April 14 (Reuters) – Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Izmail port in the southern Odesa region and struck two civilian foreign-flagged vessels overnight and early on Tuesday, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia has repeatedly targeted maritime export routes during its four-year-old war with Ukraine, striking ports vital to foreign trade and the wartime economy.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said strikes damaged a Panama-flagged vessel, as well as infrastructure and equipment.
“The enemy is once again deliberately striking critical infrastructure and logistics in the Odesa region,” Kuleba said on the Telegram messaging app.
IZMAIL IS USED FOR WARTIME LOGISTICS
Izmail lies on the Danube at the southwestern tip of Ukraine and faces Romanian territory on the other riverbank. It has become an important and frequently hit logistical area for wartime Ukraine.
A Liberian-flagged civilian merchant vessel travelling through the maritime corridor to load corn was hit in a separate Russian drone strike, Ukraine’s Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories said.
Despite the attacks, it said port operations were stable.
Without naming the port or the vessel, the ministry said the crew quickly extinguished the fire, no one was injured and that the vessel had reached a port.
The Ukrainian navy named the vessel as the “Lady Maris” that was on its way to the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk.
In the surrounding region, strikes destroyed a car repair shop and triggered a fire that consumed two passenger buses and seven cars, Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said, also speaking on Telegram.
He said six private buildings suffered damage to their roofs and that an ambulance was also damaged.
Regional prosecutors said in a later statement that a 51-year-old man was hospitalised as a result of the attack.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched four missiles and 129 drones at the country since Monday evening. The air defence units downed or neutralised one missile and 114 drones, the air force added.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Jamie Freed, Thomas Derpinghaus and Barbara Lewis)
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