Russia launched drone attacks over Ukraine, targeting the capital Kyiv overnight and the port on the Danube River, following the strategy to block Ukrainian grain exports.
Russian drones on Wednesday damaged infrastructure at a Ukrainian port in Odesa, targeting facilities used to export grain, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.
As a result of the attack, a grain elevator, grain silos, and warehouses were damaged or destroyed, prosecutors said.
Kyiv was also targeted with drones from several directions in the latest wave of attacks aimed at Ukraine overnight, leaving several floors of a glass high-rise damaged.
There were no reports of casualties, regional governor Oleg Kiper said.
Russia has been pounding the port city of Odesa and the surrounding region since Moscow withdrew from a grain deal last month that allowed Kyiv’s grain exports via the Black Sea to continue despite the war.
Last week, Kyiv said it lacks the means to defend itself against strikes on its grain infrastructure carried out by Russia, which is blocking “virtually all” Ukrainian ports, according to an army spokeswoman.
The Danube river port of Izmail is now the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products.
Kyiv Attack
In Kyiv, more than 10 Russian drones were downed during an overnight attack on the capital, the city’s military administration said early on Wednesday.
Kyiv’s mayor had said earlier that the attack on the capital had damaged multiple districts, including the busy Solomyansky, which hosts an international airport.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said no one was killed or wounded in the attack.
The administration had issued an alert for drone attacks and warned residents to stay in shelters.
The attacks come a day after Russia said it downed a wave of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, Crimea, and vessels in the Black Sea. A skyscraper in Moscow’s financial district was struck for the second time in days.
On Monday, Russia said it would intensify its strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure in response to drone attacks across its territory, which it has blamed on Kyiv.
Katrine Dige Houmøller, with AFP
