‘Retribution’: Russia attacks Odesa
All missiles and drones are shot down, Ukraine says, but debris causes damage.
The Russians first sought to wear down Ukraine’s air defenses with the drones and then targeted Odesa with six Kalibr cruise missiles, the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command said.
All six missiles and 25 drones were shot down by air defenses in the Odesa region and other areas in the south, but their debris and shock waves damaged some port facilities and a few residential buildings, injuring an elderly man at his home, officials said.
The Russian Defense Ministry said its “strike of retribution” was carried out with sea-launched precision weapons on Ukrainian military facilities near Odesa and Mykolaiv, a coastal city about 70 miles to the northeast. The ministry said it destroyed facilities preparing “terror attacks” against Russia involving maritime drones, including one site at a shipyard that was producing them.
It was not possible to verify the conflicting claims by both countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine on Monday for striking the Kerch bridge, which links Russia with Crimea and was attacked in October and needed months of repairs. The bridge is a key supply route for the peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Ukrainian officials stopped short of directly taking responsibility, as they have done with regard to similar strikes before, but Ukraine’s top security agency appeared to tacitly acknowledge a role.
Satellite images taken Monday by Maxar Technologies showed serious damage to both eastbound and westbound lanes of the bridge across the Kerch Strait on the part nearest to the Russian mainland, with at least one section collapsed. The railroad bridge that runs parallel to the highway appeared undamaged.
The Russian military has sporadically hit Odesa and the neighboring region throughout the war, but Tuesday’s barrage was one of the biggest attacks on the area.
Ukrainian forces have been targeting Crimea with drones and other attacks. Kyiv has vowed to reclaim it from Russian control, arguing that the peninsula plays a key role in sustaining the Russian invasion and is a legitimate target.
The onslaught also came a day after Russia broke off a deal that had allowed Ukraine to ship vital grain supplies from Odesa during the war.
Moscow said the decision was in the works long before the bridge attack.
Even so, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov alleged without offering evidence that the designated shipping lanes and routes for the grain transport under the deal were abused by Ukraine.
“Our military has repeatedly said that Ukraine has used these grain corridors for military purposes,” Peskov told reporters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Ukraine would continue with the grain deal. Peskov warned that such action was risky because the region lies next to an area where there is fighting.
“If they try to do something without Russia, these risks must be taken into account,” Peskov told reporters.
Zelensky said grain exports and port security topped the agenda of his meeting Tuesday with senior military commanders and government officials, adding that he received reports on logistics and protection of the coastal regions.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Russia was endangering the lives of millions of people around the world who need Ukrainian grain exports. Hunger is a growing threat in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, and high food prices have pushed more people into poverty.
“The world must realize that the goal of the Russian Federation is hunger and killing people,” Yermak said. “They need waves of refugees. They want to weaken the West with this.”
The United Nations and Ukraine’s Western allies slammed Moscow for halting the Black Sea Grain Initiative, saying it put many lives in peril.
At the U.N., Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said “very active discussions” continue with the world body and other countries and entities on how to keep grain flowing, but a key issue is what would occur if Russia attacked a Ukrainian grain shipment.
Asked whether there was any talk of an international force or deployment to protect shipments, he told reporters that “everyone is looking for the way out, and every option is on the table.”
Earlier, he urged countries at a General Assembly meeting to demand that Russia return to the deal “and stop its hunger games.”
The U.S. Agency for International Development is giving Ukraine a further $250 million to support its agricultural sector.
Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry also said its forces had foiled a Ukrainian attack on Crimea using 28 drones. The ministry said 17 of the attacking drones were shot down by air defenses and 11 others were jammed by electronic warfare means and crashed. It said there was no damage or casualties.
Also Tuesday, satellite photos from Planet Labs analyzed by the Associated Press showed the arrival of a large convoy of vehicles at a once-abandoned military base in Belarus, which was offered to Russia’s private military contractor, Wagner. That followed a short-lived rebellion last month against the Russian Defense Ministry by Wagner’s chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
