Russian airstrikes have killed four people in Ukraine and caused “significant damage” to the infrastructure at Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa, as per Ukrainian officials. The strikes left the grain storage facilities at the port damaged.
Ukraine’s Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko took to X, formerly Twitter, to say, “”Another massive attack on Odesa!…The attack resulted in the destruction of grain storage facilities and significant damage to the seaport.”
The Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper said that facilities that were hit had 1,000 tonnes of grain. He added that the bodies of two men were found under the rubble of a warehouse where grain was stored.
Drones shot down
The Ukrainian military shot down 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones and 11 cruise missiles overnight. Two supersonic missiles destroyed the grain storage facilities, Ukraine’s military claimed.
Nearly 1,000 consumers in the Odesa region were left without power after damage to power grids, Ukraine’s energy minister said.
Attacks on Kherson
A man aged 73 and a woman of 70 were killed in a separate air strike on the town of Beryslav in the southern Kherson region, officials said.
The administrative head in the city of Kherson – the region’s main centre – later said that two city residents had died and two were injured in Russian shelling.
Russian forces abandoned Kherson city and the west bank of the Dnipro River in Kherson region late last year, but regularly shell different areas from positions on the east bank.
The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said the latest air attack was “a pathetic attempt” to retaliate for a strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy on Friday.
Ukraine has been heavily reliant on Western weapons to defend itself against Russia and then to hit back in the counteroffensive that began in early June.
Announcing the latest arms delivery, Zelenskiy said Abrams tanks had already arrived in Ukraine and were being prepared for action.
“I am grateful to our allies for fulfilling the agreements! We are looking for new contracts and expanding our supply geography,” said Zelenskiy, who visited the U.S. last week.
Ukraine’s counterattack has included stepping up its attacks which Moscow says have hit targets in Russia and Crimea, the peninsula seized and annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The Russian Defence Ministry said on Monday its air defences had shot down drones over the northwestern part of the Black Sea, over Crimea, and over the Russian regions of Kursk and Belgorod. It mentioned no deaths.
Kyiv did not comment on the Russian reports, and Moscow offered no comment on the air strikes in Ukraine.
Kyiv says the air strikes against port and grain facilities are intended to prevent it exporting grain to the world, and global traders follow them closely for fear of further disruption to world markets.
Ukraine is increasingly shipping grain along the Danube River, by road and by train, and has established a “humanitarian corridor” hugging the Black Sea coast to ship grain for African and Asian markets. The first two vessels carrying grain to use the corridor left the Black Sea port of Chornomorsk last week.
(With Reuters inputs)