‘Hellish night’ in Odessa, Ukrainian port city targeted in Russian airstrikes

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Russia launched airstrikes on the port city of Odessa for a second night in what Ukrainian officials said was an attempt by Moscow to block grain exports to global food markets.

The attack comes two days after Russia withdrew from a UN-brokered agreement last year to allow Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports to continue despite the war.

Local Ukrainian officials said attacks on port terminals as well as separate attacks targeted the Ukrainian capital Kiev and other cities.

They follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pledge to punish Kiev for Monday’s drone attack, which damaged the Crimean bridge linking the occupied peninsula with Russian territory, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine .

“It was the most hellish night,” Serhiy Brachuk, spokesman for Odessa’s military administration, said in a video address on Wednesday. Footage posted on social media showed massive explosions in one of Ukraine’s most cosmopolitan cities 500 days before Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

Ukraine’s air force said 37 out of 63 missiles and drones targeting “vital infrastructure and military facilities” had been intercepted, adding that Odessa was the main target.

Oleg Kiper, the governor of Odessa, said that “dozens of missiles and attack drones” struck the area. “The main targets were ports and critical infrastructure,” he said.

“A grain and oil terminal was affected,” he said, adding that civilian buildings, hotels and tourist sites were damaged by falling debris, injuring at least six civilians.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia “deliberately and deliberately attacked grain terminals and other port facilities.” , , To destroy the possibility of shipping Ukrainian grain.”

In his Twitter post, Podolyak asked whether the UN leadership would act against the “deliberate act of terrorism perpetrated by the Russian Federation against the Global Food Programme”.

“Does this determine that there will be starvation in some of your countries?” Zelensky said in a video of an interview with African journalists released on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed incremental gains in a counteroffensive launched early last month, which has been struggling to liberate eastern and southern regions from Russian forces.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliyar said Russia’s one-day offensive towards the northeastern city of Kupyansk had failed, adding that “the initiative is now on our side.”

He and other military officials also claimed unspecified small gains in the southern border areas near the bombed-hit eastern city of Bakhmut and north of the Sea of ​​Azov.

Crimea’s Russian-established leader, Sergei Aksyonov, announced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people and the closure of a motorway near a military training ground where explosions rocked several hours overnight. He gave no explanation of what caused the weapons depot to explode, nor did Ukrainian officials take credit for the attack on the site.

Get free updates from the war in Ukraine

we will send you one myFT Daily Digest Latest Email Rounding war in ukraine News every morning.

Russia launched airstrikes on the port city of Odessa for a second night in what Ukrainian officials said was an attempt by Moscow to block grain exports to global food markets.

The attack comes two days after Russia withdrew from a UN-brokered agreement last year to allow Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports to continue despite the war.

Local Ukrainian officials said attacks on port terminals as well as separate attacks targeted the Ukrainian capital Kiev and other cities.

They follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s pledge to punish Kiev for Monday’s drone attack, which damaged the Crimean bridge linking the occupied peninsula with Russian territory, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine .

“It was the most hellish night,” Serhiy Brachuk, spokesman for Odessa’s military administration, said in a video address on Wednesday. Footage posted on social media showed massive explosions in one of Ukraine’s most cosmopolitan cities 500 days before Putin launched his full-scale invasion.

Ukraine’s air force said 37 out of 63 missiles and drones targeting “vital infrastructure and military facilities” had been intercepted, adding that Odessa was the main target.

Oleg Kiper, the governor of Odessa, said that “dozens of missiles and attack drones” struck the area. “The main targets were ports and critical infrastructure,” he said.

“A grain and oil terminal was affected,” he said, adding that civilian buildings, hotels and tourist sites were damaged by falling debris, injuring at least six civilians.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser in the administration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Russia “deliberately and deliberately attacked grain terminals and other port facilities.” , , To destroy the possibility of shipping Ukrainian grain.”

In his Twitter post, Podolyak asked whether the UN leadership would act against the “deliberate act of terrorism perpetrated by the Russian Federation against the Global Food Programme”.

“Does this determine that there will be starvation in some of your countries?” Zelensky said in a video of an interview with African journalists released on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s armed forces have claimed incremental gains in a counteroffensive launched early last month, which has been struggling to liberate eastern and southern regions from Russian forces.

Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliyar said Russia’s one-day offensive towards the northeastern city of Kupyansk had failed, adding that “the initiative is now on our side.”

He and other military officials also claimed unspecified small gains in the southern border areas near the bombed-hit eastern city of Bakhmut and north of the Sea of ​​Azov.

Crimea’s Russian-established leader, Sergei Aksyonov, announced the evacuation of more than 2,000 people and the closure of a motorway near a military training ground where explosions rocked several hours overnight. He gave no explanation of what caused the weapons depot to explode, nor did Ukrainian officials take credit for the attack on the site.