A fresh wave of Russian drone strikes on Danube port installations critical for Kyiv’s grain export caused damage and injury, Ukrainian authorities said on October 12, as Romania urged Russia to stop its attacks after again finding debris on its territory near the border with Ukraine.
Live Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.
Ukraine’s Southern Defense Force and Odesa regional Governor Oleh Kiper said that air defenses shot down 28 out of the 33 Iranian-made drones launched by Russia at the Odesa and Mykolayiv regions, but some of the drones, launched from different directions, “used complex trajectories and features of the landscape” to strike grain storage facilities in the Ukrainian port of Izmayil on the Danube River.
Since the collapse in July of a United Nations-brokered deal allowing the safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments from Black Sea ports, Ukraine has used its Danube ports of Reni and Izmayil on the border with Romania to ship food to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta.
Kiper said in a message on Telegram that port infrastructure and residential buildings in Izmayil sustained damage and several fires broke out but were rapidly extinguished. An 88-year-old woman sustained burns and was receiving emergency treatment in the hospital, Kiper said.
In Bucharest, Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu said the drone strikes on Izmayil had “again serious consequences.”
“New evidence of impact was found on Romania’s soil. We call on Russia to stop these #war crimes,” she said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The Romanian Defense Ministry said a crater caused by the possible explosion of a drone was found early on October 12 near its Danube border with Ukraine.
Romanian news reports said that…
Read the full article here
