Russia hits Ukrainian port and grain facilities in air strikes

[September 26, 2023]  KYIV (Reuters) - Russia hit Ukrainian port infrastructure and grain storage facilities in an overnight drone strike on the grain exporting district of Izmail, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.

Oleh Kiper, governor of the southern Odesa region which includes the Danube River ports of Izmail and Reni, said a border checkpoint building, storage facilities and more than 30 trucks and cars were damaged, and that two people had been hurt.

The Ukrainian military said operations at an international checkpoint had been suspended and vehicles were temporarily being rerouted. Ukraine's border service later identified the crossing point as Orlivka on the border with Romania.

The two-hour attack was the latest strike on Ukrainian grain and port facilities since July, when Russia quit a grain deal that had ensured safe Ukrainian shipments via the Black Sea to help combat a global food crisis.

Ukraine, a major global grain producer and exporter, has stepped up exports via the Danube since then.

"The enemy targeted the port and border infrastructure of the Danube," the general prosecutor's office said, publishing photos of wrecked grain silos and burning trucks. "Two truck drivers were injured as a result of the attack. Granaries, administrative buildings and freight vehicles were damaged."

The military said 26 of the 38 Iranian-made attack drones launched by Russia at Ukraine overnight had been shot down.

OTHERS REGIONS ATTACKED

It said that in addition to the Odesa region, the Mykolaiv region, Kherson and Kirovohrad regions had also come under fire.

Firefighters work near damaged trucks following a Russian strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a location given as Odesa region, Ukraine, in this handout picture released September 26, 2023. Odesa Regional Military Administration/Handout via REUTERS

A Russian missile strike also damaged a local enterprise in the southern city of Kryvyi Rih, its mayor said, and the governor of the central Cherkasy region said an unspecified infrastructure facility had been hit there.

There were no reports of any deaths in the attacks, the latest of many carried out by Russia since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine 19 months ago.

Kyiv has hit back with a growing number of attacks inside Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea, and has mounted a counteroffensive that it says is gradually making gains in areas occupied by Russia in southern and eastern Ukraine.

The governor of Russia's Kursk region said power had been cut off to about seven settlements in his region in the latest reported attack. Russia's defence ministry said a drone had been destroyed over Kursk region at around 5:30 a.m. (0230 GMT).

Reuters could not independently verify the reports by either side.

(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, and by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Michael Perry and Timothy Heriatge)

[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.