Russian drones hit port, grain storage in Ukraine's Odesa region – officials

Russian drones attacked and damaged 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, Ukrainian officials said.

There were no reports of casualties, Odesa governor Oleh Kiper wrote in a post on Telegram, without giving the exact location of the attack.

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

“The most significant ones [attacks] are in the south of the country. Russian terrorists have again attacked ports, grain, global food security.”

Russia stepped up attacks on Ukrainian agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend the Black Sea grain deal which allowed exports of Ukrainian grain.

“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.

“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.

Ukrainian media reported the drones came across the Black Sea and moved towards Izmail, a key port in the Danube delta from where Ukrainian grain is taken by barge to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment.

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 UN and Turkey a year ago, allowed Ukraine to keep exports flowing through its deep water ports on the Black Sea to ease a global food crisis.

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

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 River ports, which handled at least a quarter of exports before the Black Sea agreement ended. In late July, Russian drones targeted Izmail, destroying grain warehouses. On Sunday, Ukrainian media reported several foreign cargo ships had arrived at the port from the Black Sea for the first time since the expiration of the grain deal.