Moscow’s revenge strikes cripple ports in intense drone and missile strikes destroying grain and oil export facilities

•  Ukraine shot down eight Iranian-made Shahed drones in the wider Odesa region

Russia unleashed a series of intense drone and missile attacks on ports in southern Ukraine yesterday.

The bombardment crippled parts of the grain and oil export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk, destroying 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s farms ministry. At least 12 people were wounded, officials said.

It came days after president Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.

It also followed a vow by Putin to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014. 

‘Such attacks by Russian terrorists are not only affecting our country but also global stability,’ Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

A firefighter works at a site of storage facilities hit during Russian missile and drone strikes, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Odesa

Smoke billows from a fire at a site of storage facilities

A view shows a grain terminal in a sea port damaged during the attack

Russian 152-mm self-propelled artillery mounts (SAU) 2S19 “Msta-S” fire at Ukrainian military position near Lyman in Donetsk Oblast in Ukraine in undated footage

Mr Zelensky said his government was trying to find a way to the keep the grain export corridor open, despite Russia’s decision to abandon the deal brokered with the UN and Turkey.

‘The corridor must be secure. In fact, knowing Russia, it won’t be safe unless the UN starts working very clearly and firmly at the level of the secretary-general,’ he said.

Oniks cruise missiles and Kh-22 anti-ship missiles were used to hit grain and oil terminals, Ukrainian officials said.

Debris from those that were shot down struck apartment buildings, seaside resorts and warehouses, sparking fires and injuring several people. Video from warehouses in Odesa showed firefighters extinguishing blazes.

Eight Iranian-made Shahed drones were also shot down in the wider Odesa region, where two warehouses containing tobacco and fireworks were reported damaged. 

The attacks were part of what Russia’s defence ministry described as a ‘strike of retribution’ after Monday’s attack on the Kerch Bridge, a key route for military and civilian supplies.

In Crimea Russian emergency officials said more than 2,200 residents had to be evacuated from four villages after a fire triggered hours of explosions at a nearby ammunition depot.

Officials did not explain the cause of the fire near the city of Staryi Krim. But unconfirmed reports on social media spoke of three Ukrainian strikes.

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