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Russia strikes port infrastructure in Ukraine’s Odesa

25.09.2023 12:00
Russia has carried out a missile attack on Ukraine’s southern Black Sea port of Odesa, damaging the marine terminal and the terminal hotel building, and destroying grain-storage facilities, according to officials in Kyiv.
Photo:
Photo:Romankravchuk, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Russia conducted the strike using the Oniks anti-ship cruise missiles overnight into Monday, the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.

Ukraine’s southern Defence Forces wrote on the Telegram social messaging app: "The enemy insidiously hit the port infrastructure. The marine terminal in Odesa suffered significant damage, and a fire broke out in the terminal hotel building, which has not been functioning for several years. Firefighters promptly extinguished the fire."

Russia’s Oniks missiles also destroyed grain-storage facilities, according to officials. 

Moreover, falling debris damaged warehouse buildings belonging to a business and a private family home in Odesa’s suburbs, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Fires also broke out after grass in open areas had been caught ablaze, but have been extinguished, the website added.

Explosion waves broke windows in several houses, injuring one civilian who received medical assistance, according to officials. 

After leaving the United Nations-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative in July, Russia began a series of strikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure and ports on the Black Sea and the Danube, notably Izmail and also Odesa, which are vital for agriculture exports, according to news outlets.  

In all, Russia attacked Ukraine on the night of September 24-25 with 12 Kalibr cruise missiles, two Oniks anti-ship missiles and 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Air Force in Kyiv said.

Ukraine’s air defences brought down 11 out of 12 Kalibr missiles and all 19 unmanned aerial vehicles, according to officials. 

In the last 24 hours, Russian troops shelled Ukraine’s  Chernihiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Mykolaiv, Odesa, and Kherson regions, killing at least 4 citizens and injuring 11 more, Ukraine’s official war.ukraine.ua website reported on Monday morning.

Monday is day 579 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.

(pm)

Source: PAP, Ukrainska Pravda, war.ukraine.ua