KYIV (Reuters) – A “massive” Russian drone attack early on Wednesday damaged infrastructure at Ukrainian grain-exporting ports on the Danube River, Ukrainian officials said.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the ports of Reni and Izmail had been struck in an attack that damaged warehouses used for grain cargoes, oil storage tanks and administrative buildings.
The attack, which the military said lasted 4-1/2 hours, was the latest by Russia on Ukrainian port and grain facilities since Moscow quit a deal that had enabled Ukraine to safely export grain via the Black Sea.
“Another massive attack on the ports of the Danube Region,” Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.
Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region that includes the Danube River ports, had said earlier on Wednesday that “damage to port and other civilian infrastructure was recorded” but gave few details.
Kubrakov said 105 port infrastructure facilities in Ukraine had been damaged and partially destroyed since July 18, the day after Russia quit the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain export deal.
As a result of the air strikes since July 18, Ukrainian exports of to Asia, Africa and Europe had been reduced by almost 3 million tons per month, Kubrakov said.
Ukraine is a major global grain producer and exporter, but its ability to ship grain to the world has been hit by Russia’s invasion in February 2022. The Danube has become a vital export route since Ukraine’s deep Black Sea ports were blocked.
“Despite the aggressor’s attempts to reduce its (Ukraine’s) export potential, the ports continue to operate. At the same time, every attack on the port infrastructure of Ukraine is an attack on the food security of the whole world,” Kubrakov said.
The prosecutor general’s office said six truck drivers and one local resident had been hurt in the overnight attack. Photos it posted on the Telegram messaging app showed trucks on fire and a partially destroyed building.
The Ukrainian air force said 32 of the 44 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia launched into Ukraine overnight had been destroyed. Russia did not immediately comment on the latest air strikes.
(Reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; additional reporting by Anna Pruchnicka and Yuliia Dysa; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Timothy Heritage)
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