‘Trying to make the world starve’: Russian drones destroy grain warehouses at Ukraine ports
Russian drones launched a four-hour attack on Ukraine’s Danube ports of Reni and Izmail, destroying grain warehouses and other facilities, as Moscow appeared to escalate its attempts to strangle Kyiv’s globally important agricultural exports.
The attacks, using Iranian-supplied drones, follow Russia’s withdrawal this month from the Black Sea deal that allowed Ukraine to export its grain and threats by both Moscow and Kyiv to target civilian carriers visiting ports.
Ukrainian officials said 15 Shahed-136 drones were launched against warehouses on the Danube River overnight and six people had been wounded on Monday.
“Russia hit another Ukrainian grain storage overnight,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, wrote on Twitter, without identifying the location of the target.
“It [Russia] tries to extract concessions by holding 400 million people hostage. I urge all nations, particularly those in Africa and Asia who are most affected by rising food prices, to mount a united global response to food terrorism.”
Commenting on the attacks, the governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, told Ukrainian television: “Russia is trying to fully block the export of our grain and make the world starve.” [Continue reading…]