Ukraine live briefing: Strikes hit Odessa port region for third night after Russia ends grain deal
Missile strikes pummeled Ukraine’s Black Sea port region of Odessa for the third night in a row, Ukrainian officials said Thursday, while an attack on the nearby port city of Mykolaiv left 19 people wounded, including five children, the regional administration said.
The barrage follows Russia’s pullout from a U.N.-brokered deal that had allowed the flow of Ukrainian grain exports to the world from Ukraine’s southern ports, and comes after Moscow vowed to retaliate against Kyiv’s strike on the Crimean Bridge earlier this week.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
The latest attack on Odessa sparked a fire in the city and killed one person, regional governor Oleh Kiper said Thursday. Ukraine’s air force said eight aircraft carrying long-range supersonic missiles were recorded flying in the direction of the Black Sea, while anti-ship cruise missiles were launched toward the Odessa region. Previous attacks on Tuesday and Wednesday destroyed 60,000 tons of grain, Ukraine’s agriculture minister claimed in a statement.
In Mykolaiv, the strike set garages on fire and damaged high-rise buildings overnight, Vitaliy Kim, the southern region’s governor, said on Telegram.
Ships headed to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea could be considered potential carriers of military cargo as of Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. “The flag countries of ships sailing to the Ukrainian ports of the Black Sea will be considered involved in the conflict” on the side of Kyiv, the ministry said. Russia is capable of replacing Ukrainian grain in international markets, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday during a meeting with government officials.
A drone attack in Crimea killed a teenage girl, Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-backed head of occupied Crimea — which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — said on Telegram early Thursday.
The European Union’s top diplomat accused Russia of deepening a global food supply crisis after the Kremlin terminated its involvement in the grain export deal. “This is going to create a big and huge food crisis in the world,” Josep Borrell told reporters on Thursday.
In a new video, Wagner Group head Yevgeniy Prigozhin appeared to confirm he was in Belarus. He vowed to continue operating the mercenary group, but not in Ukraine. The video, posted on Telegram and verified by The Washington Post, appears to be the first footage of him since the group’s short-lived mutiny in Russia last month. His fighters would continue working in Africa, Prigozhin said, and would train the Belarusian army.
Ireland will give an additional $5.6 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar announced during a state visit to Kyiv on Wednesday. “Ireland’s commitment to Ukraine means that we will support them on their pathway to E.U. membership,” he said.
“The agreement with the Kremlin puts an end to a diplomatic quandary for South Africa: As a member of the ICC, it would have an obligation to arrest Putin upon his arrival in the country,” they write.
