Russia hits port, grain silo in Ukraine's Odesa region

Russian drones attacked port and grain storage facilities in the south of Ukraine's coastal Odesa region in the early hours of Wednesday, setting some of them on fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

There have been no reports of casualties, he said. Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend the Black Sea grain deal that had allowed for exports of Ukrainian grain.

Ukrainian media reported the drones arrived from the Black Sea and then moved west along the Danube river towards Izmail, a key port from which Ukrainian grain is taken by barge to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

"Unfortunately, there are damages," President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

"The most significant ones are in the south of the country. Russian terrorists have once again attacked ports, grain, global food security."

"The enemy... is trying to destroy Ukrainian grain, attacking industrial and port infrastructure. Unfortunately, there are hits, unfortunately the silo was damaged, and fires broke out at the site," Serhiy Bratchuk, speaker of the Ukrainian Volunteer Army South, said in a video statememt.

"Russia is trying to cut Ukraine out of the future grain agreement and, most importantly, to strategically displace our country from the global food market," he said.

The Black Sea grain deal

Also, for the first time since the expiration of the grain deal, several foreign cargo ships arrived in the Izmail port via the Black Sea on Sunday, Ukrainian media reported.

Another Russian attack in late July targeted the Izmail port terminal on the Danube delta, destroying a grain warehouses.

Ukraine's Danube river ports became a vital lifeline for Ukraine's grain exports after Russia left the Black Sea grain deal in mid-July.

The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey a year ago, had allowed Ukraine to keep exports flowing through its deep water ports on the Black Sea in order to ease a global food crisis.

Russia quit the deal on July 17, complaining that sanctions on its own grain and fertilizer exports had not been eased, and warned that ships heading to Ukrainian seaports could be considered military targets. Read full story

As a result of the deal's collapse Ukrainian grain exports in July were down 40% from June, analysts said on Tuesday.

The threat to shipping on the coastal ports forced Ukraine to funnel more grain shipments through the Danube rive ports, which had handled at least a quarter of all exports before the Black Sea agreement ended.