The governor of Russia's Belgorod region said on Tuesday that three civilians were killed when a Ukrainian drone struck a sanatorium in the village of Lavi, near the Ukrainian border, Reuters reports.
Russia targeted Ukrainian ports in the southern Odesa region and the Danube River area in drone strikes overnight, setting fire to at least one grain warehouse, Ukraine's military and local authorities said Wednesday.
The attacks were the latest Russian attacks on port infrastructure on the Danube, which Ukraine uses to transport grain to the Romanian port of Constanta, since Moscow abandoned a UN-brokered deal that allowed Kiev to ship grain across the Black Sea, Reuters reports.
"The enemy hit grain warehouses and a production and transshipment complex in the Danube region. A fire broke out in the warehouses and was quickly contained. Firefighters continue to work," the Ukrainian military said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
The army released photos showing piles of grain under a burned and shattered shell warehouse.
Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said the attack on the region lasted three hours and that the Ukrainian Air Force destroyed nine Russian drones.
"Unfortunately, there were hits in the production and transshipment complexes where the fire broke out... The damage also includes grain warehouses," Kiper said on Telegram.
Ukraine's air defenses said later Wednesday that they had shot down 11 of 20 drones launched by Russia overnight.
An industry source told Reuters that Ukrainian ports on the Danube were the main targets. Ukraine manages two large ports on the Danube - Izmail and Reni.
Danube ports accounted for about a quarter of Ukraine's grain exports before Russia pulled out of an agreement in July to provide safe passage for Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea.
The ports have since become the main outlet, and grain is also sent by barge to the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanța for onward shipment.
Global grain prices rose earlier this month, when Russia attacked Izmail - Ukraine's main inland port across the Danube from Romania and the Reni port.
Russian authorities announced this evening that they had sent two planes to intercept two drones, the MK-9 Ripper and Bajraktar TB2, over the Black Sea, without specifying whose drones they were.
"Two Russian planes were sent to prevent a possible violation of Russia's border and to block the drone's electronic guidance mission," said the Ministry of Defense there.
It is added that after that the drones changed their path and left the air zone in which they were located.
(BETA)
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