Odessa region victim of new Russian attacks
Moscow “attacked the Odessa region with offensive drones and two types of missiles”explained on Telegram the regional governor, Oleh Kiper, mentioning several “strikes”including the attack of a “port infrastructure”. “A civilian was injured by the shock wave”added Mr. Kiper, specifying that the victim had been transferred to hospital.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russia led the assault with nineteen Iranian-made Shahed drones, two Onyx supersonic missiles and twelve other Kalibr missiles. A submarine was also mobilized, said the same source.
All drones and eleven Kalibrs were shot down by air defenses, the army continued, reporting that the Odessa resort suffered damage “important” and that a fire, quickly extinguished, had broken out in a hotel building.
Two Kalibr missiles, out of the eleven destroyed, were in the regions of Mykolaiv (South) and Kirovograd (Center).
An Onyx projectile hit a grain warehouse ” empty “ in the port of Odessa, said Nataliya Gumenyuk, an army spokeswoman, asserting that the resort is “actually destroyed”. The army also reported warehouses and businesses damaged by falling debris in the city’s suburbs. The Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine broadcast footage of the destruction, on Telegram.
Russian forces regularly target this region of southern Ukraine overlooking the Black Sea where crucial port infrastructure for maritime trade is located. Attacks have increased since the abandonment, in July, of the grain agreement which allowed Ukraine to freely export its production.
On Sunday, a second cargo of Ukrainian wheat arrived in Istanbul via the Black Sea using a maritime corridor set up by Kiev despite threats from Moscow to attack boats entering and leaving Ukraine.