Russia bombarded the Black Sea port city of Odessa with drones and missiles for the second straight night, triggering loud and prolonged explosions early Wednesday. According to Ukrainian officials, this was an attack on grain terminals and other critical infrastructure that Ukraine needs to move food around the world.
Ukraine’s Air Force said it was one of the largest sustained airstrikes on Odessa, the country’s largest port, and that multiple waves of missiles and drones were fired at other cities overnight. As dawn broke, smoke rose over Odessa’s main port.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials described the attack as part of a Russian attempt to resume its de facto blockade of the Black Sea after Moscow pulled out of a United Nations-brokered deal allowing Ukrainian grain ships to export food. Russian missiles also hit Odessa on Tuesday in what Moscow described as retaliation for an attack on a key bridge to occupied Crimea.
“Russian terrorists have deliberately targeted the Grains Agreement infrastructure, and every Russian missile is a blow not only to Ukraine but to everyone in the world who wants a normal and safe life,” Mr Zelenskyy said in the news on Wednesday -App Telegram.
At least 30 cruise missiles and 32 attack drones were fired at targets across the country, mostly from the Black Sea, the Ukrainian Air Force said. Ukraine said it intercepted 14 of the missiles and 23 of the drones.
“It was a hell of a night,” Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa regional military administration, said in a video message posted on social media. He called the attack “very powerful, really massive” and said it was possibly the largest attack on the city since the all-out invasion of Russia began.
In Odessa, an intercepted missile caused a large explosion, with the blast damaging several buildings and injuring civilians, according to the Ukrainian military. The port infrastructure, including a grain and oil terminal, tanks and loading equipment, was damaged, the military said. Tobacco and fireworks warehouses were also hit, according to the military. Odessa City Hall said ten people needed medical attention, including a nine-year-old boy.
In the Russian-occupied Crimea peninsula, a fire at a military training area led to the evacuation of at least 2,000 residents and the closure of a highway, according to Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed Crimean chief.
Smoke and flames rose from an explosion at a military training area in Crimea on Wednesday Source: Portal
Tensions around the Black Sea are heating up after Monday’s explosion at the bridge across the Kerch Strait, which connects Crimea to Russia. The bridge, a strategically important link in supplying Russian forces in southern Ukraine, was damaged by naval drones in an apparent Ukrainian attack.
Moscow has denied the attacks are linked to the suspended grain deal and on Tuesday said it was a “mass retaliatory strike” against plants that make drones used in attacks against Russia.
The Kremlin on Tuesday issued threats against Kiev trying to resume food shipments across the Black Sea. His spokesman Dmitry S. Peskov said: “Without appropriate security guarantees, certain risks arise there.”
Russia also launched a wave of drones on the capital Kiev on Wednesday, but all were destroyed by the city’s air defenses, said Serhiy Popko, head of the city’s military administration.
Russia’s success in attacking critical infrastructure in the ports around Odessa reflects the difficulties Ukraine faces in attempting to protect cities while protecting critical infrastructure, military equipment and troop concentrations.
“We can cover the ports of Odessa, Kiev region, Dnipro region and Lviv region,” said Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, during an appearance on Ukrainian television. “But we cannot block all directions from which missiles are flying into Ukraine.”
The concentrated attacks on Odessa posed a particular challenge for Ukraine, given the type of missiles Russia uses and the tactics it uses to evade air defenses. Mr Ihnat said the Russians fired Kh-22 cruise missiles on a ballistic trajectory, making them extremely fast and difficult to shoot down, especially when fired from relatively close range. At the same time, drones would be deployed in large numbers to weaken air defense systems, making tracking the more powerful missiles more difficult.
— Marc Santora and Victoria Kim report from Odessa, Ukraine and Seoul