Russia's defence ministry says forces have struck a cargo vessel and a tanker in the Black Sea, reports Tass

• The Russian Armed Forces used Geranium missiles to strike a tanker and a dry cargo ship to reduce their ability to transport weapons for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. A fire broke out on both vessels, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Strikes on commercial tonnage in the Black Sea fit an established wartime pattern in which both sides have targeted shipping they describe as dual-use, and the market transmission has historically run less through the vessels themselves than through freight, war-risk insurance premia, and the willingness of owners to call at the region's ports. The operative distinction is between strikes on vessels tied to Ukrainian export corridors, which have tended to tighten grains and seed-oil supply expectations, and any contact with tankers carrying crude or products, where the read-through is to prompt freight rates and the risk discount applied to seaborne Russian and regional supply. In comparable episodes the crude reaction has been front-loaded and prone to fade when loading programmes continue uninterrupted, with the more durable effect sitting in tanker rates and insurance costs rather than flat price. Attribution of this kind through a state wire is routine and typically precedes independent confirmation, which has often taken time to emerge. The follow-ons worth watching are any disruption to loadings at regional terminals, evidence that insurers are repricing Black Sea cover, and whether the incident draws in third-party shipping interests beyond the belligerents.