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 claimed on Monday.
No deaths were reported in the attack on Odesa, but at least one person was killed in a separate Russian air strike on the town of Beryslav in the southern region of Kherson region, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
“Another massive attack on Odesa! … The attack resulted in the destruction of grain storage facilities and significant damage to the seaport,” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko, economy minister, said on X.
Russia’s defence ministry also 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 regions. It mentioned no deaths.
“The sea port in Odesa suffered significant damage,” Ukraine’s southern military command said on the Telegram messaging app, also reporting a fire in a hotel that was not in use.
Power Cut
Oleh Kiper, the Odesa region governor, said a woman was hit by shrapnel and taken to hospital in an attack which 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 hit by Russia’s decision in mid-July to quit a U.N.-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 also 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.