Russia has attacked Ukraine’s grain port of Izmail, an inland port across the Danube River from Romania. Ukraine’s defence ministry said a grain silo was damaged. There were no reports of casualties, Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper wrote in a post on Telegram. Kiper posted several photos showing firefighting crews trying to put out a fire in a high-rise building next to a river. The port, across the river from Nato-member Romania, has served as the main alternative route out of Ukraine for grain exports since Russia reimposed its de facto blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in mid-July.
Ukrainian infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov claimed Russian attacks attacks early on Wednesday damaged almost 40,000 tons of grains which were bound for China, Israel and countries in Africa. Kubrakov went on to say “The world must resist. Attacks on Ukrainian ports are a threat to the world,” and appeal for more donations of air defence equipment.
Ukraine claims its air defences forces shot down 23 “Shahed” drones. The majority were destroyed in Kyiv oblast and Odesa oblast. In Kyiv, fragments of a downed drone fell on an administration building in Solomianskyi district. According to the city authority, debris also fell in two other districts, but no one was injured. In the Kyiv region, due to falling debris, a private house caught fire in the Bucha raion. A garage and a car were damaged. In another settlement of the region, the roof of a shop was damaged by debris.
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the Ukrainian presidency, has again called for a tightening of sanctions against Russia in order to inhibit weapon production following the overnight strikes. He hailed “heroic work by the air defence tonight,” saying “It is possible to stop this with tougher sanctions, which will constantly increase and affect the military industry of the Russian Federation. Also, everyone can do more if they block the chains through which Russia receives sanctioned components. Every country can do more.”
Ukrinform reports that five settlements in the Sumy region have been shelled. It cites the local authority stating no civilian casualties or destruction of civilian infrastructure was recorded.
Kherson was also reportedly under fire. Houses, offices and cars were damaged in the city and two people were injured.
After the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, spoke on the phone today, Erdoğan’s office issued a statement which said Putin would at some point visit Turkey, a Nato member. But not long after, Russian state media agency Tass overwrote its brief news article and said that Putin and Erdoğan had only “agreed to prepare for a possible meeting”, citing the Kremlin.
The head of Latvia’s state border guard has said the country has started training a special task force of border regards in response to the arrival of Wagner mercenary troops in Belarus.
The Polish deputy foreign minister, Pawel Jabłoński, has said relations with Ukraine have “not been the best” lately after an official was criticised by Kyiv after suggesting the embattled nation had been ungrateful for the support it had received. Jabłoński said there are many issues on which Poland and Ukraine “cannot agree”, European Pravda reported, and that “due to the remarks made by some representatives of the Ukrainian authorities recently” relations have not been “the best, no one is hiding this.”
Pope Francis has urged Europe to find “courageous courses of peace” to end the war in Ukraine as he opened a five-day visit to Portugal for a major Catholic youth festival. The 86-year-old pontiff has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and has sought to play a mediating role, though he has faced criticism for failing to directly blame Russia for the war.
Authorities in Kyiv have removed the Soviet Union-era symbol from the Motherland monument. It is to be replaced with the national symbol of Ukraine.
Russian air defences shot down several drones targeting the Moscow region on Tuesday, the mayor Sergei Sobyanin said, with one hitting a tower that had also been struck on Sunday. The Russian defence ministry said two drones had been destroyed in the Odintsovo and Narofominsk districts near Moscow, and that a third was jammed and had crashed in the capital. The ministry blamed the attacks on Kyiv. No injuries were reported. Moscow’s Vnukovo airport was also temporarily shut and flights redirected.
Russia also downed a drone in the Sevastopol district of Crimea, according to the local governor. Mikhail Razvozhaev wrote on Telegram: “A UAV was shot down in the Kara-Koba area. An explosion occurred on the ground. Grass and bushes caught fire. Fire brigades are already on site and have begun to put out the blaze.”
Poland said on Tuesday it was rushing troops to its eastern border after accusing Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, of violating its airspace with military helicopters. The Belarusian military denied any such violation and accused Nato member Poland, one of Ukraine’s most fervent backers in its conflict with Russia, of making up the accusation to justify a buildup of its troops.
Ukraine and Poland meanwhile called in the ambassadors from each other’s countries on Tuesday as a dispute escalated after a foreign policy adviser to Poland’s president said Kyiv should show more appreciation for Warsaw’s support in its war with Russia. The adviser, Marcin Przydacz, also said the Polish government must defend the interests of the country’s farmers – a reference to a ban on imports of Ukrainian commodities which will expire next month.
