Russia launches intense nighttime offensive across Ukraine, targets port city of Odessa

Kyiv: Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that missiles and drones launched by Russia in an intense series of nationwide nighttime airstrikes damaged vital port infrastructure, including grain and oil terminals, and injured at least 12 people in southern Ukraine. .

Airstrikes targeted the southern port city of Odessa for the second night in a row, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would halt its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has enabled vital grain exports to reach the world, including many at risk of starvation. countries at risk.

Meanwhile, Russian emergency officials in Crimea said more than 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages due to a fire at a military facility. The fire also closed a vital highway, according to Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of the peninsula, which was annexed in 2014.

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He gave no cause of the fire at the facility in the Kirovsky district, which broke out two days after an attack on a bridge linking Russia with Crimea, which the Kremlin has blamed on Ukraine.

“A difficult night of airstrikes for the whole of Ukraine,” Serhiy Popko, head of the Kiev City Military Administration, said in a statement on Telegram. Ukrainian officials have reported more drones and missiles being sent to more parts of Ukraine than in recent days.

Popko said the attacks in Odessa were particularly fierce for the second night in a row. The Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South reported that at least 12 civilians were wounded in the attack on the Odessa region.

Odesa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said the attack included dozens of missiles and attack drones targeting the port and infrastructure. Debris from the missiles and drones that were shot down fell on apartment buildings, beach resorts and warehouses, causing fires and injuring many people.

Kipper said Russia targeted the port and key infrastructure with Onyx and Kh-22 missiles. Grain and oil terminals were affected, storage tanks, loading equipment were damaged and fires broke out. Emergency service personnel were deployed.

At least six residents of Odesa, including a 9-year-old boy, sought medical help due to injuries caused by broken glass and other objects. Remnants of the downed Kh-59 missile left a large crater in another part of the city, injuring three civilians and damaging several buildings.

Eight Martyr drones were also shot down in the wider Odessa region, where two tobacco and fireworks warehouses were reported damaged. Popko said Russia also attacked Kiev with an Iran-made Shaheed drone but with “no result”. Ukrainian air defense intercepted all drones aimed towards the capital and a preliminary investigation showed that there were no casualties.

In Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, Russian drone strikes damaged some infrastructure and private homes, according to regional governor Vitaly Bunechko. There is no information about any casualty. Authorities in the Ukrainian regions of Poltava and Kirovohrad also reported attacks.

The latest attack comes a day after Russia carried out what it described as a ‘revenge strike’ on Ukrainian military facilities near Odessa and the coastal city of Mykolaiv using sea-launched precision weapons.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for the July 17 attack on the Kerch Bridge, which links Russia with Crimea and is a major artery for military and civilian supplies. Ukraine’s top security agency appears to tacitly acknowledge its role in the July 17 attack, but refrains from directly claiming responsibility, repeating its responses after previous similar attacks on the Kerch bridge Is.