Russia attacked Danube ports, destroying over 60,000 tons of grain

(Patria) - Russian drones attacked Ukrainian Danube ports on Monday, destroying grain storage infrastructure, local officials said, BBC reported.

The facilities are located on the other side of the Danube, near NATO member Romania.
The Danube has been a key export route for Kyiv since Russia withdrew from an agreement that allowed Ukraine to ship wheat, corn, and other products via the Black Sea.

A grain depot in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, which was under almost nightly attack, was also destroyed. Officials say more than 60,000 tons of grain were destroyed in the past week.

The collapse of the agreement also means that Russia has resumed targeting port locations in Ukraine that were suspended during the agreement.

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper, whose region also covers the Danube ports of Reni and Izmail, said on his Telegram channel that Russia had attacked the infrastructure there with Iranian-made drones for four hours. He said a grain hangar and a storage depot were destroyed. Other local officials say three warehouses were bombed.

Three drones out of about fifteen involved in the attack were destroyed by air defense, Kiper added. Four people were injured, one seriously, officials said. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis condemned the attack "very close" to his country.

"This recent escalation poses serious risks to security in the Black Sea. It also affects the further transit of grain from Ukraine, and thus global food security," he wrote on Twitter.

Romanian media reported that soldiers and sailors on the opposite side of the river could see bright lights and hear the approaching drones and explosions. One journalist described it as the closest strike to Romanian territory since the beginning of the war. Reni is about 200 meters from Romania across the Danube and 10 kilometers from the Romanian port city of Galati.

Last year, two million tons of grain were exported via the Danube, compared to 600,000 in the previous year.