Russian drone strikes on Odesa region cause fires at port

Russian troops hit port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa region with Shaded drones overnight, the Ukrainian military has reported.

A grain elevator was damaged and a fire broke out at the industrial and port facilities, which transport the country’s crucial grain exports.

After leaving a deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain to world markets through the city of Odesa, Russia has hammered the country’s ports with strikes.

Since July 17, Russian forces have fired dozens of drones and missiles at the port of Odesa and the region’s river ports, which are being used as alternative routes.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said the city of Izmail was hit in the strikes.

Izmail is on the Danube River that forms part of the Ukraine-Romania border.

Video obtained by The Associated Press showed explosions and a large fire in the distance on the Danube, captured by fishermen in Romania on the other side of the river.

Three Ukrainian ports along the Danube are currently operating.

In an update on social media, Ukraine’s South operational command wrote: “The goal of the enemy was clearly the facilities of the ports and industrial infrastructure of the region.”

Ukraine’s Air Force intercepted 23 Shahed drones over Ukraine overnight, according to its morning update, mostly in Odesa and Kyiv.

Serhii Popko, the head of Kyiv City Administration reported that all 10 drones fired at Kyiv were intercepted.

Numerous loud explosions were heard overnight as air defence systems were activated.

Debris from felled drones hit three districts of the capital, damaging a non-residential building, Mr Popko said.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “Russian terrorists have once again targeted ports, grain facilities and global food security.

“The world must respond.”

Mr Zelensky confirmed that some drones hit their targets, with the most “significant damage” in the south of Ukraine.

Wheat prices rose about 3% and corn prices were up nearly 2% on Wednesday following the latest attacks, showing the continued volatility in world markets as Russia targets Ukraine’s ports and agricultural infrastructure.

Ukraine is a major supplier of wheat, corn, vegetable oil and other agricultural products important to the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia where people are struggling with high food prices and hunger.

Ukraine also can export by road and rail through Europe, but those routes are more costly than going by the Black Sea and have stirred divisions among nearby countries.

Russia and Ukraine agreed on a deal a year ago that was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.

The deal reopened three Ukrainian Black Sea ports blocked by fighting and provided assurances that ships entering the ports would not be attacked.

Russia declined to renew the agreement last month, complaining that its own exports were being held up.

In a telephone conversation on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Russia’s Vladimir Putin that he would seek to restore the Black Sea initiative to export Ukrainian grain, according to his office.

Referring to the deal as a “bridge of peace,” Mr Erdogan told Mr Putin that Turkey would “continue to carry out intensive efforts and diplomacy for the continuation of the Black Sea initiative”.

The statement said the two leaders had agreed on Mr Putin visiting Turkey but did not provide a date.

Mr Erdogan has previously said Mr Putin would come during August.

A Kremlin statement about the call said “readiness was confirmed to return to the Istanbul agreements as soon as the West actually fulfils all the obligations to Russia recorded in them”.

It said preparations were continuing for “a possible meeting” of Mr Putin and Mr Erdogan.

Two civilians were wounded in shelling of the city of Kherson during the night, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said Wednesday.

In the eastern region of Donetsk, four people were wounded in Russian shelling over the past day, according to Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

The area around the city of Nikopol, across the river from the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, was shelled three times, Governor Serhiy Lysak said.