Rubymar cargo ship attacked by Houthis has sunk, Yemeni government says
The Rubymar cargo ship, attacked last month, has sunk in the southern Red Sea, Yemen's internationally recognised government said in a statement on Saturday, Reuters reports.
If verified, it would be the first vessel lost since Houthi militants began targeting commercial shipping in November.
The government statement said the ship sunk on Friday night and warned of an "environmental catastrophe".
The ship was carrying more than 41,000 tons of fertilizer when it came under attack, the U.S. military's Central Command previously said.
Yemen's Houthi militants have been attacking commercial ships in the Red Sea region since mid-November, saying they are acting in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
On Monday, a Yemeni government team visited the Rubymar, a Belize-flagged, UK-owned cargo ship, and said it was partially submerged and could sink within a couple of days.
The U.S. military previously said the attack had significantly damaged the freighter and caused an 18-mile (29-km) oil slick.
Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on Saturday morning that more than 20 settlements in the eastern Ukrainian province had sustained Russian artillery and mortar attacks, while high-rise buildings in the regional capital, also called Kharkiv, were damaged by a drone attack.
