- By Robert Greenall
- BBC news
Image source, Ukraine Operational Command in the South
Photos provided by the Ukrainian military show the destruction of grain stores in Reni
Russian drones attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube River, destroying grain storage infrastructure, local officials said.
The facilities are just across the river from NATO member Romania.
The Danube has been a key export route for Kyiv since Russia pulled out of an agreement that allowed Ukraine to ship wheat, corn and other products through the Black Sea.
Officials said more than 60,000 tons of grain were destroyed last week.
The deal’s collapse also means Russia continues to target Ukrainian port locations that were suspended during the deal.
The head of Odesa, Oleh Kiper, whose region also includes the Danube ports of Reni and Izmail, said on his Telegram channel that Russia attacked infrastructure there for four hours using Iranian-made drones.
He said a grain shed and storage tanks were destroyed. Some local officials said three warehouses were bombed.
Three drones out of about 15 involved in the attack were destroyed by air defenses, Mr Kiper added.
Four people were injured, one seriously, officials said.
Romanian media reported that soldiers and sailors on the other side of the river saw bright lights, and heard the approach of drones and explosions.
A journalist described it as the closest hit to Romanian territory since the start of the war. Reni is about 200m from Romania across the Danube and 10km from the Romanian port city of Galati.
The Danube, as well as road and rail routes from Ukraine to Poland, Romania and other neighboring countries, have been developed as export routes since the Russian invasion.
Two million tons of grain were exported down the river last year, compared to 600,000 the year before.
But all these routes were able to transfer only a fraction of what Ukraine needed to export, and were more expensive logistically than by sea.
Exports through eastern Europe have also angered farmers in neighboring countries, where Ukrainian grain has flooded markets and driven prices down.
As Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s grain exports continue, Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country “will be able to replace Ukraine’s grain on a commercial and free basis” for African countries that import from Ukraine.
Moscow is to host the Russia-Africa summit later this week.
Ukraine, often described as the bread basket of Europe, is the seventh largest exporter of wheat in the world, and 71% of its land is agricultural.
