India's foreign ministry released a statement late on Monday confirming that an attack on a ship leaving a southern Ukrainian port of Odesa had killed four Indians. Another was in a critical condition in the hospital. Russia hit the Golden Leo - ?a Guinea-Bissau-flagged ?ship manned by a ?crew from India and Syria - with three cruise missiles on Sunday, Ukraine's navy wrote on ?the Telegram messaging app.

The statement from the ministry said that India condemns these attacks and reiterates their belief that targeting commercial'shipping', endangering civilian crew members or otherwise preventing freedom of navigation and commerce is deplorable. (Reporting from Kanjyik in Barcelona, editing by Andrew Heavens).

(source: Reuters)