Russian air strikes killed four people in Ukraine and caused “significant damage” to infrastructure at the Black Sea port of Odesa and to grain storage facilities, Ukrainian officials said on Monday.

The attacks were part of an air campaign that has made it harder for major grain producer Ukraine to export its products since Moscow quit a deal in mid-July that had enabled Black Sea shipments and helped combat a global food crisis.

The strikes have intensified as Kyiv presses on with a counteroffensive in the south and east that has made slow gains but could be boosted by the delivery of US-made Abrams tanks, announced on Monday by President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Another massive attack on Odesa!”, economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X. “The attack resulted in the destruction of grain storage facilities and significant damage to the seaport.”

Oleh Kiper, the Odesa region governor, said the facilities that were hit had contained almost 1,000 tonnes of grain and that the bodies of two men were found under the rubble of a warehouse where grain was stored. Ukraine’s military said 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones and 11 cruise missiles were shot down overnight, most of them directed at the Odesa region. The grain storage facilities that were destroyed were hit by two supersonic missiles, it said.

The energy ministry said damage to power grids cut off power to more than 1,000 consumers in the Odesa region, a reminder of air strikes that at times left millions of Ukrainians without heating and light in the freezing cold last winter.

A man aged 73 and a woman of 70 were killed in a separate air strike on the town of Beryslav in the southern Kherson region, officials said.

Drones shot down

The Ukrainian defence ministry said the latest attack was “a pathetic attempt” to retaliate for a strike on the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy on Friday.

Ukraine has been heavily reliant on Western weapons to defend itself against Russia and then to hit back in the counteroffensive that began in early June.

Announcing the latest arms delivery, Zelensky said Abrams tanks had already arrived in Ukraine and were being prepared for action.

“I am grateful to our allies for fulfilling the agreements! We are looking for new contracts and expanding our supply geography,” said Zelensky, who visited the US last week.