Russia Attacks Ukraine's Odesa Port For 2nd Night After Grain Deal Exit

Ukraine continued to repel Russia's air attack on the Odesa port for the second consecutive night.

This photograph shows a downed missile which fell down to a private house after night missiles strike to Odesa on July 18, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Source : Getty

Russia carried out an air attack on the southern part of Ukraine's Odesa during the early hours of Wednesday which was repelled by the Ukrainian air defence system. This was the second consecutive night of Russia's air attack on Odesa. City Governor Oleh Kiper cautioned the locals to not approach any windows and urged them to not shoot or show the work of air defence forces. Russia launched this series of attacks on Tuesday on Ukrainian ports, just a day after it pulled out of the UN-backed Black Sea grain export deal. Russia's backing out of the deal raised concerns in Africa and Asia regarding the rising food prices and hunger, reported news agency Reuters.

An air raid alert was blared out on the eastern part of Ukraine during the early hours of Wednesday.

Six weeks since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive attack in the east and south, Russia has been mounting a ground offensive attack of its own in the northeast.

Reuters cited a Russian Defence Ministry spokesperson as saying that their forces had advanced by up to 2 kilometres in the direction of Kupiansk (an important railway junction in the northeast Kharkiv area). However, as per Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar, the initiative in the area had switched to Ukrainian forces as they made new gains in the east near Bakhmut. 

Valery Shershen, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops on the southern front, reported heavy fighting around the village of Staromayorske. While talking to Espreso TV's online outlet, she said that the Ukrainian forces did not have complete control of the village, Reuters reported. She added, "We have made advances through the streets."

As per the accounts of the Russian Defence Ministry, Moscow's forces had hit groups of Ukrainian soldiers around Staromayorske.