Just 24 hours before Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping are set to meet for their planned summit in Beijing, soon on the heels of Trump's visit, and a geopolitical wrench may have just been thrown into the works.
According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russian forces have attacked a Chinese ship heading toward a Ukrainian port - a provocative move that threatens to seriously anger Beijing at the worst possible diplomatic moment.
Early Monday morning, a Russian drone reportedly struck the KSL Deyang, a vessel flying under the Marshall Islands flag, just off the coast of Ukraine, Reuters also confirms.
The ship was reportedly empty at the time while en route to Ukraine's Pivdennyi port in the Odesa region to load up on iron ore concentrate.
A fire was observed on board, but it was quickly brought under control and extinguished, with the vessel escaping severe damage.
The Ukrainian government is alleging this wasn't some kind of accidental fog-of-war blunder, with President Zelensky immediately calling out Moscow:
“Drones struck Odesa ... and one of the UAVs hit a vessel owned by China. The Russians could not have been unaware of what vessel was at sea,” Zelensky said.
A Ukrainian navy spokesman told AFP that none of the crew members, all Chinese nationals, were injured. He added that the vessel continued on its journey.
“The ship was entering for loading. After it was hit at night by a Shahed, the crew coped with the consequences on their own. Fortunately, no one was injured, and the vessel continued on its way to its port of destination,” navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said.
The incident went down just after on Sunday Xi and Putin had just exchanged "congratulatory letters" to set the stage for Putin's upcoming arrival in Beijing.
The China-owned vessel wasn't the only ship attacked within that span of time. According to The Independent:
Russia attacked a Panama-flagged civilian vessel heading to Ukraine's Chornomorsk port in the southern Odesa region on the Black Sea early on Monday, the regional governor said.
It is one of several ships destined for Ukrainian ports that have been struck by Russian forces in the past day.
The vessel was damaged in the attack, which caused a fire, Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that no one had been injured in the incident and that the crew had extinguished the fire. The vessel has continued on its way, the governor added.
TradeWinds is also suggesting a third ship was struck, but few details have been given. Black Sea transit continues to be a dangerous prospect, also with naval mines long being a feature of the 4+ year long war.