- Russian drones hit port and grain storage facilities in the southern region of Odesa.
- “Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide,” the ministry wrote on messaging platform X.
- The United Nations has warned of a potential food crisis and hunger in the world’s poorest countries as a result of Russia’s decision to abandon the deal.
- Port hit on the Danube opposite NATO-member Romania.
- Kyiv says the aim is to intimidate shippers considering return.
- Moscow pulled out of the grain deal in mid-July.
Russian drones hit port and grain storage facilities in the southern region of Odesa overnight. The regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram that there were no casualties in the attack early on Wednesday morning. Some of the infrastructure was set on fire.
Russia has stepped up attacks on agricultural and port infrastructure in Ukraine after refusing to extend the Black Sea grain deal just over two weeks ago. Ukrainian media reported the drones arrived from the Black Sea and then moved west along the Danube River towards Izmail – an important port from which Ukrainian grain is taken by barge to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.
Russia attacked Ukraine’s main inland port across the Danube River from Romania, sending global food prices higher as it ramps up its use of force to reimpose a blockade.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said a grain silo was damaged in the Danube port of Izmail in the Odesa region: “Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide,” the ministry wrote on messaging platform X. The port, across the river from NATO-member Romania, has served as the main alternative route out of Ukraine for grain exports since Russia reintroduced its de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in mid-July.
Video released by the Ukrainian authorities showed firefighters on ladders battling a huge blaze several stories high in a building covered with broken windows. Several other large buildings were in ruins, and grain spilled out of at least two wrecked silos. There were no reports of casualties, Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Chicago wheat prices jumped 4% following the attack and were still up around 2.5% later in the morning, with traders worried anew about a hit to global supplies from driving Ukraine, one of the world’s top exporters, off the market.
Russia has relentlessly attacked Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure for more than two weeks, since refusing to extend an agreement that had lifted its war-time blockade of Ukrainian ports last year.
The Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin had spoken by telephone to the grain export deal’s sponsor, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.
Putin reiterated Russia’s condition for rejoining the grain deal: that a parallel deal improving terms for its own food and fertilizer exports be implemented. Those exports are already exempt from sanctions, which the West says Moscow aims to undermine by applying pressure to the global food supply.
Moscow has described its recent attacks as retaliation for a Ukrainian strike on a bridge to Crimea, used to supply its troops in southern Ukraine.
U.S. Ambassador Bridget Brink listed recent Russian targets. “Homes. Ports. Grain silos. Historic buildings. Men. Women. Children,” she said in a statement released by the embassy. “Round-the-clock and intensifying Russian strikes on Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv, Kyiv, and Kherson make it clear once again that Russia has no desire for peace, no thought for civilian safety, and no regard for people around the world who rely on food from Ukraine.”
Kyiv says the goal of the strikes is to reimpose Russia’s blockade by persuading shippers and their insurance companies that Ukrainian ports are unsafe to resume exports.
Producers in Ukraine are already feeling the impact.
Ukrainian media reported several foreign cargo ships had arrived directly at Izmail from the Black Sea, for the first time since the expiry of the grain deal, an apparent bid to open a breach in Russia’s newly restored blockade. The United Nations has warned of a potential food crisis and hunger in the world’s poorest countries as a result of Russia’s decision to abandon the deal, brokered by the U.N. and Turkey.
Russian drones targeted Ukraine’s Danube ports once before in late July, destroying a grain warehouse. Ukrainian officials have said Moscow has hit 26 port facilities, five civilian vessels, and 180,000 tonnes of grain in nine days of strikes since quitting the grain deal.
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that Russia also launched a drone attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region overnight. Air defence shot down 23 drones, but debris from downed drones damaged several buildings in the capital and the region. No casualties were initially reported.
(With inputs from agencies)
