Ukraine live briefing: Assault on Odessa continues; U.N. explores grain export ideas
Russia attacked the key Ukrainian port city of Odessa with missiles and drones overnight, its regional governor said, marking the second consecutive night of attacks. Six people were injured, including a 9-year-old boy, authorities said. Russia previously said its Tuesday attack was in retaliation for the deadly explosion on the Crimean Bridge.
A spokesperson for the U.N. secretary general said “there are a number of ideas being floated” to help Ukrainian grain reach global markets after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal that allowed millions of tons of essential food products to be exported from Ukraine’s southern ports.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Russia’s used Kh-59 guided air missiles, long-range Kh-22 missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones to attack Odessa overnight, reported Oleh Kiper, the regional governor. The strikes hit grain and oil terminals at the port, Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne reported, citing Vladyslav Nazarov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command. In a video posted on Telegram, Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa military administration, described the night as the “hottest so far” and “seemingly unending.”
Russian drones also appeared to target other areas of the country overnight. The military administration in the capital, Kyiv, said on Telegram that the air defense was able to intercept all drones.
A fire broke out early Wednesday at a military training ground on the Crimean peninsula, which Russia invaded and illegally annexed in 2014. Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, reported no casualties but said that more than 2,200 people were being evacuated from nearby villages. Investigators are working on determining the cause of the blaze, he said.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said Secretary General António Guterres would “continue to explore all possible avenues to ensure that Ukrainian grain, Russian grain and Russian fertilizer are out into the global market.” Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told African media that his country is “not afraid” to continue shipping grain. Governments around the world, ranging from France and Finland to the African Union, criticized Russia’s decision to pull out of the grain deal this week, as Canada condemned what it called the “weaponization of hunger by the Russian Federation.”
Traffic has partially resumed on the Crimean Bridge, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said on Telegram, adding that fully restoring the structure could cost roughly between $11 million to $14 million.
President Biden will discuss the repatriation of Ukrainian children with a papal envoy this week in Washington, the White House said. Kyiv estimates that thousands of children have been taken to Russia or Russian-occupied territory.
Russian warships will participate in a joint naval exercise with China in the Sea of Japan, also known as the East Sea, the Kremlin said Tuesday. A group of vessels left the far eastern city of Vladivostok for the exercises, which are set to begin later this month.
The shipment of drones were intercepted by customs officers on the border of Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan during the final leg of their long trek, according to U.S. officials who recounted the event. The episode was unusual, and lauded as a rare victory in a whack-a-mole effort to stop banned hardware from pouring into Russia, Joby Warrick reports.
