By Hanna Arhirova | Associated Press
KYIV, Ukraine — Russia unleashed intense drone and missile attacks overnight Wednesday, damaging critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine, including grain and oil terminals, and wounding at least 12 people, officials said.
The bombardment crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.
It came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.
It also followed a vow by Putin to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack Monday on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.
The Agriculture Ministry, citing experts, estimated it would take a year to restore the damaged facilities. The destroyed grain was supposed to have been loaded onto a vessel and sent through the grain corridor two months ago, the statement said.
“Such attacks by Russian terrorists are not only affecting our country but also global stability,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said during a briefing with the visiting Irish prime minister in Kyiv. He said Ukraine needs more anti-aircraft defense systems to protect the port.
Zelenskyy said his government is trying to find a way to maintain a corridor to keep grain exports flowing despite Russia’s decision to abandon the deal brokered with the U.N. and Turkey.”The corridor must be secure. In fact, knowing Russia, it won’t be safe unless the U.N. starts working very clearly and firmly at the level of the secretary-general,” he said.
Agriculture Minister Mykola Solskyi warned that if Ukraine cannot export food, “the population of the poorest countries will be on the brink of survival! The price of grain will increase, and not all countries…
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