Russia hits Ukrainian grain depots again as a foreign ship tries out Kyiv's new Black Sea corridor
The Hindu
A loaded container ship stuck at the port of Odesa, since Russia’s invasion more than 17 months ago, set sail and was heading through the Black Sea to the Bosporus along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping even as Russia resumed targeting grain infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region.
Russia resumed its targeting of grain infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, local officials said on August 16, using drones in overnight strikes on storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Kyiv has increasingly used for grain transport to Europe after Moscow broke off a key wartime export deal through the Black Sea.
At the same time, a loaded container ship stuck at the port of Odesa since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail and was heading through the Black Sea to the Bosporus along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping.
Ukraine’s economy, crunched by the war, is heavily dependent on farming. Its agricultural exports, like those of Russia, are also crucial for world supplies of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on.
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After the Kremlin tore up a month ago an agreement brokered last summer by the U.N. and Turkey to ensure safe Ukraine grain exports through the Black Sea, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher, some European countries have balked at the consequences for local grain prices, and the Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports.
Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said the primary targets of Russia’s overnight drone bombardment were port terminals and grain silos, including at the ports in the Danube delta. Air defenses managed to intercept 13 drones, according to Kiper.
It was the latest attack amid weeks of aerial strikes as Russia has targeted the Danube delta ports, which are only about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Romanian border. The Danube is Europe’s second-longest river and a key transport route.
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