Danube port hit, grain storage facilities damaged in two overnight drone attacks by Russia
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Russia launched two drone attacks on Odesa Oblast overnight on Aug. 16, striking a port on the Danube River and causing damage to grain storage facilities, Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Oblast Military Administration, reported on Telegram on Aug. 16.
As a result of the strikes on a port along
the Danube River, storage buildings and grain silos were damaged. Fires broke
out, but have since been extinguished. Fortunately, there were no reports of
casualties resulting from the Russian strikes.
During the night, Russia deployed a group
of Iranian-made kamikaze drones across Ukraine. The country’s air defense
forces successfully shot down 13 enemy drones within the Odesa and Mykolaiv
oblasts.
The Southern Defense Forces stated that the
attackers carried out the assault in multiple waves. Initially, the strike was
aimed at Mykolaiv Oblast, where all drones were intercepted by air defense
systems. Following this, two powerful strikes were launched against the
southern part of Odesa Oblast.
In the latter half of July, the Russians constantly
attacked the southern regions of Ukraine using missiles and drones. Both Odesa
and Mykolaiv bore the brunt of these attacks, with the Russian strikes having a
particular focus on disrupting port infrastructure and grain terminals.
The attacks intensified after July 17, when
Russia announced that it was pulling out of the “grain initiative” that ended
its naval blockade of Ukraine and allowed three Ukrainian ports to be used to
export Ukrainian grain.
The initiative was set to expire on July
17, but Ukraine warned as early as April 17 that Russia was effectively
sabotaging the deal, which was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, by
refusing to carry out inspections of ships, as mandated by the agreement.
Russia, in turn, complained that part of
the deal allowing Russian food and fertilizer exports to proceed unhindered was
not being honored. It said it wanted limitations on using the SWIFT
international transactions systems lifted for Russia’s state agricultural bank.
The UN offered a compromise of setting up a
subsidiary bank or allowing a U.S. bank to handle the transactions on Russia’s
behalf, but the Kremlin refused to agree to these options.
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