GENEVA, April 20. /TASS/. Commercial vessels enjoy protection under international law and their crews cannot be deliberately targeted, UN Human Rights spokesperson Jeremy Laurence told TASS.

"Under international humanitarian law, merchant vessels are civilian objects and as such are protected from attack, unless they meet the criteria to constitute military objectives," he said when asked to comment on Ukraine’s attack on a dry cargo ship in the Azov Sea. "Crew members of civilian vessels are civilians under international humanitarian law and cannot be targeted deliberately and all necessary precautions should be taken to avoid harm to them."

The Volgo-Balt-138 dry cargo vessel loaded with wheat sank in the Azov Sea on April 3 after a Ukrainian drone attack. Nine crewmembers survived, three died. A probe was launched. Kherson Region governor Vladimir Saldo warned that this crime would not remain unanswered.