The ship Ukraine struck in the Caspian Sea on Saturday contained components for drones and missiles on their way to Iran, Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevgen Korniychuk said in an interview with N12 on Sunday.
Iran claimed the ship was carrying civilian goods when it was attacked by Ukraine and accused Ukraine of seeking to expand the Russia-Ukraine war.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the attack on Saturday in a post to X/Twitter, saying that Ukraine had conducted "long‑range strikes in the Caspian Sea - including vessels used in military cargo shipments involving Iran."
Kornychuk stated that this was not the first time Ukraine had hit such military targets and that the expectation is it will happen again, adding that Ukraine views such shipments as legitimate military targets.
Israel and Ukraine are fighting the same enemy, Kornychuk said, different sides of the same evil axis.
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded to the incident on X/Twitter, saying that Zelensky "has attacked an Iranian commercial vessel, killing a sailor. A blatant UN Charter violation done at Israel's behest to drag Europe into its war."
"In calls with EU High Rep Kallas and FM Lavrov, made clear that what the freeloader in Kyiv did CANNOT GO UNANSWERED," Araghchi added.
Lavrov, in a statement posted on the Russian Foreign Ministry's website, offered condolences in connection with the death of a sailor in the attack.
Lavrov said Araqchi thanked local authorities in the Russian region of Astrakhan, where the vessel started its journey, for helping the crew "and stressed the need to put an end to such adventures by the Kyiv regime."
The statement also said Araqchi informed Lavrov of "continuing diplomatic efforts aimed at de-escalating tension in the Middle East."
Trump says Russia not supplying weapons to Iran
This comes on the heels of a recent statement from US President Donald Trump on Truth Social on Friday, in which he claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin assured him that Russia was not selling weapons to Iran.
"If they did, it would be very bad for them - certainly not in their best interests," Trump emphasized in the post.