Ukrainian firefighters battle a blaze early Wednesday at a grain port handling facility in the southern Odessa region after it was hit in a Russian drone strike. Photo courtesy Odessa Regional Administration/EPA-EFE
Aug. 2 (UPI) — Russian drone raids targeted Ukrainian industrial and port infrastructure in the Odessa region early Wednesday, including a major grain export facility on the eastern bank of the Danube close to the border with Romania causing significant damage.
The Ukraine Volunteer Army, or UDA, in the region accused the Russian occupiers of pursuing a deliberate strategy of targeting Ukrainian grain by targeting port and grain export handling infrastructure.
“11 ‘Shaheeds’ [Iranian-made drones] were destroyed during a night attack in the south of Odessa region. The occupiers are trying to destroy the port infrastructure on the Danube. High-rise administrative buildings were significantly damaged,” UDA South spokesman Sergey Bratchuk said in a Telegram post.
“The occupiers continue to wage war against Ukrainian grain attacking the port and industrial infrastructure of the south of the region,” wrote Bratchuk who said the air raid alert lasted for 2 hours and 54 minutes in Odessa.
Odessa region Gov. Oleh Kiper said that fires broke out at the facilities of the port and industrial infrastructure of the region, and at least one grain elevator was damaged.
“All relevant services are on site. As of 5:30 a.m., there were no reports of casualties,” he wrote in a social media post.
President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the enemy action saying “Russian terrorists again attacked ports, grain and global food security.”
“The world must respond. When civilian ports are targeted, when terrorists deliberately destroy even grain elevators, this is a threat to everyone on all continents. Russia can and must be stopped,” he wrote.
The United States issued a strong rebuke to Russia over the raids via its ambassador to Ukraine.
“Homes. Ports. Grain silos. Historic buildings. Men. Women. Children. Round-the-clock and intensifying Russian strikes on Kryvyi Rih, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Kherson make it clear once again 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,” said Ambassador Bridget Brink.
In the two weeks since exiting a U.N-brokered deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain via Black Sea “grain corridors,” Russia has rained fire down on Ukraine’s grain handling infrastructure — to significant effect.
It launched major attacks on the Odessa region four nights in a row after pulling out of the agreement July 17, killing several people and inflicting heavy damage in what appears to be a bid to cripple Ukraine’s ability to export grain.
On the night of July 18-19, it destroyed 60,000 tons of China-bound grain at the Chornomorsk port in a wave of missile and drone attacks in and around Odessa.
Ukrainian Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Mykola Solskyi said afterward it would take up to a year to repair the port’s grain export infrastructure.
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