Russian strikes cause significant damage in Ukraine’s city of Odesa
Two people were killed during a Russian strike in Odesa. The strikes also caused significant damage to the port city, including a grain warehouse, which is where the two bodies were recovered.
What happened in the Odesa missile attack?
Russia sent 19 drones and two missiles into the city Sunday night, most of which were shot down. Ukraine “started testing a new route to ship grain out of the Black Sea,” and the attack was the first since the country started testing it, The New York Times reported.
“Another massive attack on Odesa!” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said on X, formerly known as Twitter, per Reuters. “The attack resulted in the destruction of grain storage facilities and significant damage to the seaport.”
The strikes sparked fires that burned a home and warehouse buildings, and it “follows months of attacks by Russia to erode Ukraine’s grain industry,” according to The Washington Post.
How will the attacks impact grain production in Ukraine?
Ukraine is one of the world’s major grain producers, and the attacks will make it more difficult to export the grain — an air campaign that has “intensified as Kyiv presses on with a counteroffensive in the south and east that has made slow gains,” per Reuters.
The conflict in the Black Sea caused Ukraine to look into exporting the grain by land, but it has met resistance from Poland, Hungary and Slovakia due to concerns that the increased supply of cheaper priced grain would drive prices down, harming local farmers, the Post reported.
