Russian air strike damages Odesa port infrastructure, grain facilities

Kyiv — An overnight Russian air strike on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa caused “significant damage” to port infrastructure and destroyed some grain storage facilities, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

No deaths were reported in the attack, but at least one person was killed in a separate Russian air strike on the town of Beryslav in the southern region of Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

“Another huge attack on Odesa! ... The attack resulted in the destruction of grain storage facilities and significant damage to the seaport,” economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X.

Oleh Kiper, the Odesa region governor, said the facilities that were hit had almost 1,000 tonnes of grain in storage.

Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry reported Ukrainian attacks overnight, saying drones were shot down over the northwestern part of the Black Sea, over Crimea, and over the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod. It mentioned no deaths.

The Russian attack on Odesa was the latest in a series of missile and drone strikes which Kyiv says are intended to prevent Ukraine, a major grain producer and exporter, from shipping its agricultural products to the world.

“The seaport in Odesa suffered significant damage,” Ukraine’s southern military command said on the Telegram messaging app, also reporting a fire in a hotel that is not in use.

Ukrainian air defences destroyed 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones and 11 cruise missiles overnight, the vast majority of which were directed at the Odesa region, the military said. It said Russia also fired two hypersonic missiles that destroyed grain storage facilities.

Kiper said a woman was hit by shrapnel and taken to hospital in an attack that the energy ministry said damaged power grids and cut off power to more than 1,000 consumers in the Odesa region.

Ukraine’s ability to ship grain has been reduced by Russia’s decision in mid-July to quit a UN-brokered deal that had allowed safe shipments via the Black Sea, with Moscow saying not enough was being done to improve its own exports.

Kyiv is increasingly shipping grain along the Danube River, by road and by train, and has established a “humanitarian corridor” hugging the Black Sea coast to ship grain for African and Asian markets. The first two vessels carrying grain to use the corridor left the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk last week.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said the latest attack was “a pathetic attempt” to retaliate for Kyiv’s strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy on Friday.

Reuters