Russia strikes 2 Ukrainian port cities

Russia attacked two Ukrainian Black Sea port cities yesterday, killing three people, officials said, as Moscow intensifies pressure on Ukraine’s key trade routes.

A Russian drone attack on port infrastructure at the southern city of Mykolaiv damaged three civilian foreign-flagged vessels, regional prosecutors said.

One of the strikes, early yesterday, killed two Ukrainians on board a foreign vessel, they added. Another man was killed in a Russian attack on Odesa, Ukraine’s biggest seaport, local officials said.

Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had struck Ukrainian port facilities overnight in Odesa and Chornomorsk.

Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s maritime export arteries during the war, but the strikes have intensified in past weeks and focused on deepwater ports that handle much of the country’s grain and other cargo — vital to its wartime economy.

Ukraine’s seaports authority said on Thursday that Russia hit Ukrainian ports and civilian vessels several times in July, killing 11 people, including port workers and foreign crew members.

The strikes have led to a partial halt in grain shipments and an almost complete suspension of grain purchases at port terminals, traders and analysts say.

A Russian missile attack on a residential building in Odesa late on Thursday killed two and injured several people. “Nothing like this has ever happened before. There are so many air alerts – so many. It’s practically one air alert after another,” Odesa resident Viktoriia said.

Ukraine has pressed on with its own campaign to disrupt logistics for Moscow’s military and isolate Russia-annexed Crimea.