Russia overnight strike damages port infrastructure in Ukraine: officials

A wave of Russian drone and missile strikes on Ukraine’s southern coast broken port and industrial infrastructure, officers mentioned Tuesday, hours after Moscow refused to increase a deal permitting the protected export of grain from the area.

Six Kalibr missiles “launched from the waters of the Black Sea at Odesa” have been destroyed by air defences, Ukraine’s southern command mentioned in an announcement.

Twenty-one Iran-built Shahed explosive drones have been additionally destroyed on “strategy from the ocean within the Odesa area,” it mentioned. “Sadly, the particles of the downed missiles and the blast wave from the downing broken the port infrastructure services and several other personal houses,” it added.

It didn’t specify precisely the place the port infrastructure services or houses have been positioned.

An aged man was injured in his dwelling and was receiving remedy, it mentioned. The Odesa area in southern Ukraine is dwelling to maritime terminals that have been key to the expired grain export settlement between Moscow and Kyiv. An “industrial facility” within the southern port metropolis of Mykolaiv was hit within the in a single day assault in accordance with native governor Vitaliy Kim.

A fireplace had subsequently damaged out earlier than being extinguished, he mentioned on Telegram, including there have been no casualties.

Mykolaiv is positioned on the Black Sea, about 170 kilometres (100 miles) from Moscow-annexed Crimea.

Russian forces have often focused it because the begin of Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

Sergiy Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa army area, had beforehand reported air defences had been activated within the space.

Russia was “attacking the south of Ukraine with assault drones,” head of the Odesa area’s army administration, Oleg Kiper, mentioned on Telegram.

He warned residents to remain in shelters.

Air alerts have been additionally introduced in Mykolayiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kirovograd, and Cherkasy.

Russia’s invasion final yr noticed Ukraine’s Black Sea ports blocked by warships till the settlement, signed in July 2022, allowed for the passage of crucial grain exports.

The deal expired at midnight in Istanbul (2100 GMT) after Russia refused an extension, arguing that the elements of the deal permitting the export of Russian meals and fertilisers had not been honoured.