CNN –
Russian forces on Sunday attacked Ukrainian port facilities on the Danube used for food exports, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to discuss resuming a grain export deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
At least two people were injured in the attacks, a regional military spokesman said. The port infrastructure was hit and a fire broke out, which was quickly extinguished.
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, 25 drones were used in night attacks on the Odessa region, 22 of which were shot down.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that it had attacked fuel depots in the Ukrainian port of Reni that were used to supply the Ukrainian military. The Russian statement added that the attack was successful and “all assigned targets were neutralized.”
The volley hit just across the border from NATO member Romania, prompting a swift rebuke from the country. The Romanian Defense Ministry condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” calling it “unjustified and in deep contradiction to the rules of international humanitarian law.”
The ministry stated that there was no direct threat to Romania’s territory or its territorial waters.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin of trying to create a “food crisis” with the attacks.
“Russian terrorists continue to attack port infrastructure in the hope of creating a food crisis and world famine,” adviser Andriy Yermak said on the messaging app Telegram.
The nightly airstrikes are Moscow’s latest attempt to target Ukrainian shipping infrastructure since Russia withdrew from a deal in July that allowed Ukrainian ships to bypass a Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports and allow safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus for global to reach markets.
The deal’s failure drove up food prices worldwide and raised fears that the world’s poorest countries would struggle to feed their populations.
Erdogan, whose country effectively controls access to and from the Black Sea, helped negotiate the first agreement and took on the role of mediator in trying to persuade Russia to rejoin. He is likely to discuss reviving the deal at a meeting with Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Monday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country was ready to rejoin the pact as soon as it saw guarantees that the benefits promised to Russia would be implemented.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has tried to create temporary shipping corridors for merchant ships, but Kiev has been unable to guarantee their safety from Russian attacks or mines. Despite the risk, several ships have used these routes.
The UN has also tried to revive the agreement.