Nearly 21 injured in 3rd night of Russian attacks against Ukraine
Kyiv: Russia pounded Ukraine’s southern cities with drones and missiles for a third consecutive night Thursday, keeping Odesa in the Kremlin’s crosshairs after a bitter dispute over the end of a wartime deal that allowed Ukraine to send grain through the key Black Sea port.
The strikes killed at least two people in Odesa. In Mykolaiv, a city close to the Black Sea, at least 19 people were injured, including a child, Ukrainian officials said.
Russia has targeted Ukrainian critical grain export infrastructure since it vowed “retribution” this week for an attack that damaged a crucial bridge between Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula. Russian officials blamed that strike on Ukrainian drone boats.
The strikes on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure have helped drive up food prices in countries facing hunger.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the end of the deal would result in more human suffering, with potentially millions of people affected.
The grain deal provided guaranteed that ships would not be attacked entering and leaving Ukrainian ports, while a separate agreement facilitated the movement of Russian food and fertiliser.
The Russian military on Thursday described its strikes on Odesa, a city whose downtown area is described by the United Nations’ cultural agency UNESCO as possessing “outstanding universal value,” as “retaliatory.”
In January, UNESCO added Odesa’s historic center to its list of endangered World Heritage Sites, with UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay saying the “legendary port that has left its mark in cinema, literature and the arts.”
Despite multiple Russian artillery attacks and airstrikes during the war
that began in February 2022, Odesa had not previously been subjected to the heavy barrages that have targeted other towns and cities in Ukraine’s south and east.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it targeted “production shops and storage sites for unmanned boats” in Odesa and the nearby city of Chornomorsk.
In the Mykolaiv area, the Russian military claimed to have destroyed Ukraine’s fuel infrastructure facilities and ammunition depots.
Neither sides’ claims could be independently verified.
The previous night, an intense Russian bombardment using drones and missiles damaged critical port infrastructure in Odesa, including grain and oil terminals. The attack destroyed at least 60,000 tons of grain.
In what appeared to be a tit-for-tat move, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry announced that as of Friday, all vessels in the Black Sea heading to Russian ports “may be considered by Ukraine as such carrying military cargo with all the associated risks.” That may result in higher insurance costs for those ships.
