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Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on Ukraine’s southern Odesa port region in the early hours of Sunday, a day before the Turkish and Russian presidents were due to hold talks about restarting the export of grain via the Black Sea.
Moscow in July pulled out of the agreement that had allowed Ukraine to ship grain via the Black Sea ports, claiming that a parallel deal to remove obstacles from the export of Russian fertiliser and food had not been honoured. The river Danube has since become Ukraine’s main export route for grains.
Sunday’s attack, which lasted for more than three hours, hit grain shipping infrastructure on the Danube, injuring at least two people.
“Russian terrorists continue to attack port infrastructure in the hope that they will be able to provoke a food crisis and hunger in the world,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote on Telegram. Ukrainian air defence shot down 22 of the 25 Iranian-made Shaheed drones, Ukraine’s air force said.
Images posted on social media by southern military spokesman Sergey Bratchuk showed firefighters dousing flames, but it was unclear if that was at the Danube port of Reni or nearby Izmail.
“Russia always tries to create a certain information background before important international events,” Bratchuk told Ukrainian television. “But it’s clear that it is impossible to co-operate with Russia.”
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan hopes to persuade his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to renew the grain deal at the talks due to take place on Monday in Sochi.
The original grain deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022, had allowed Ukraine to export nearly 33mn tonnes of grains and other commodities from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.
After Russia refused to renew the deal, Ukraine has steadily increased the amount of grain it exports via the Danube ports, or overland by rail and truck, to about 36mn tonnes.
Additional reporting by Roman Olearchyk in Kyiv
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