Just hours before the high-level meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russia attacked one of the country’s most important grain export ports from the air, according to Ukrainian authorities. The Ukrainian Air Force urged residents of the port of Izmail to seek safety.
Some Ukrainian media reported explosions in the area. Nothing was initially known about the extent of the attack. The ports on the Danube, in the Odessa region, were already the target of Russian air strikes on Sunday.
Russia reports shooting down of Ukrainian drones
Russia claims to have intercepted two Ukrainian drones overnight. “Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defense systems in the air over the Black Sea, near the Crimean Peninsula and over the territory of the Kursk region,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on the Telegram online service on Monday.
Crimea was last attacked on Saturday. Russia destroyed three Ukrainian drone ships that attempted to attack the bridge between the peninsula and the Russian mainland. The Kursk border region was attacked on Friday. According to the local governor, two drones damaged a residential building and an administrative building in the city of Kurchatov.