The bodies of four Azerbaijani citizens who were killed in a drone attack on cargo vessels in the Azov Sea have been repatriated to Azerbaijan, Ministry of Foreign Affairs says.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said that its air defenses shot down 140 Ukrainian fixed-wing drones overnight over various Russian regions, as well as the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

The deaths of five Azerbaijani citizens in a drone attack on two foreign-flagged cargo vessels in the Sea of Azov represent not only a humanitarian tragedy but also raise serious questions about the safety of civilian maritime transportation in modern conflict zones. The incident once again demonstrates that civilian shipping operating in areas of active hostilities faces significantly greater risks than in the past.

Two foreign cargo ships carrying a total of 25 Azerbaijani citizens on board were subjected to drone attacks during the night, said Aykhan Hajizada, Head of the Press Service Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affair

Port infrastructure in Temryuk, a Russian town on the Azov Sea, was damaged in a Ukrainian drone attack overnight, the local emergencies center said on Friday.

A cargo ship, the Pavel Grabovsky, began sinking in the Sea of Azov while en route from Russia’s Rostov to the Turkish city of Samsun.