Suicide drone attacks deflected in Kyiv but strikes in south highlight defence gaps
Russia failed to hit its targets in Kyiv but has successfully struck ports in the Odesa region with suicide drones in the latest wave of night-time strikes to follow the Kremlin’s decision to pull out of a UN-backed deal safeguarding the world’s food supply.
Fires were said to be raging at the sites of important Ukrainian infrastructure at undisclosed locations in the southern area while Ukraine’s defence ministry said a grain silo in Izmail, an inland port across the Danube River from Romania, had been badly damaged.
The shooting down of 23 Iranian-Shahed drones on Tuesday night, including 10 fired at Ukraine’s capital, highlighted the crucial role of Ukraine’s air defences, in particular the patriot systems donated by the US, but the gaps elsewhere in the country are becoming clearer every day.
Russia has offered free grain to African countries while targeting Ukraine’s capacity to store and export foodstuffs since pulling out a deal brokered by Turkey and the UN to ensure that food and fertiliser from Ukraine, one of the major breadbaskets of the world, could leave its southern ports.
The latest attacks on the ports and industrial infrastructure, seemingly designed to kill off the possibility of any future deal with Kyiv on grain supply, was condemned by the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, who said Russia had no empathy for people around the world reliant on Ukrainian products.
