Odessa port infrastructure damaged in Russian airstrikes

KIEV, July 18 (Reuters) – Russia launched missile and drone strikes in southern and eastern Ukraine overnight that damaged infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

The attack on Odessa, one of Ukraine’s main grain export ports, followed a promise of retaliation by Russia after an explosion at a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula on Monday that Moscow blamed Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force said all six Kalibr missiles that were fired overnight and 31 of the 36 drones were downed. The missiles and most of the drones were shot down over the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, while the rest were shot down over the eastern Donetsk, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Ukraine’s southern military command said falling debris and blast waves damaged several houses and unspecified port infrastructure in Odessa, but gave few details. There were no reports of deaths, but an elderly man was injured, he said.

Odesa has often come under attack since Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, even though the port was part of the UN-brokered network. deal allowing the safe export of grain from the Black Sea from which Russia withdrew on Monday.

The latest attack was “further proof that the country-terrorist wants to endanger the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on Ukraine’s food exports,” Andriy Yermak, the presidential chief of staff, said on Telegram.

Neighboring Moldova condemned the attacks and Russia’s decision not to extend the Black Sea grain deal.

“Last night’s shelling of the Odessa region, including the port, reveals Russia’s tactic of weaponizing food by depriving those most in need,” Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu said on Twitter.

US aid chief Samantha Power, who Announced More than $500 million in humanitarian assistance during a visit to Ukraine on Monday was expected to visit Odessa on Tuesday.

Ukrainian authorities also reported a fire late Monday at an unspecified facility in the port of Mykolaiv, which provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea, but gave few details.

In the latest Russian shelling, the Donetsk regional governor said three civilians had been killed in the region the day before and the prosecutor general’s office said a woman was killed in Orikhiv, in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment on the Russian attacks.

Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Alexandar Tanas in Chisinau; writing by Lidia Kelly and Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Edited by Timothy Heritage

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