Russian forces attacked a Ukrainian port on the Danube river with drones early on Wednesday, damaging granaries and warehouses used to export grain, according to Ukrainian officials.
The officials did not specify which port had been targeted. Ukraine’s Air Force said it shot down 13 drones in the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, primarily aimed at port infrastructure, but did not detail how many got through or whether the damage was caused by the debris of intercepted drones.
A series of attacks along the Danube in recent weeks has caused alarm because some of the ports that have been targeted sit just across the river from Romania, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
The Danube delta became an immediate alternative waterway for grain ships after Russia resumed its blockade last month of major Ukrainian ports along the Black Sea. But Russia soon began attacking the smaller ports on the Danube as well, bombing Ukrainian grain-loading facilities there.
On Sunday, Russian forces fired warning shots before boarding a commercial vessel heading to a Ukrainian port on the Danube, further increasing tensions around the Black Sea and continuing efforts to choke off Ukraine’s food exports.
Separately on Wednesday morning, three drones were shot down by air defences in the Kaluga region of Russia, immediately to the southwest of the Moscow region, Russia’s defence ministry said. The ministry said Ukraine was behind the attack.
