The Russian Armed Forces launched 25 Shahed drones at ports in the south of Ukraine’s Odesa region, the Ukrainian Air Force command reported on Sunday.
Ukraine’s air defences downed 22 UAVs. The command added that one drone had struck the port infrastructure, causing a fire. Two port employees were injured and rushed to hospital.
The attack occurred a day before the upcoming negotiations between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan which will be hosted by Sochi on 4 September.
The Ukrainian emergency response service published photos from the site of the fire extinguishing operation.
The Russian Defence Ministry claimed responsibility for the drone attacks on the Odesa region. The ministry said that the “strike was conducted on the fuel depots used to supply Ukrainian military equipment and vehicles”. The agency claimed that all the designated targets had been successfully hit.
Since Russia quit the grain deal, an agreement meant to unlock Ukrainian agricultural exports, Russian forces have been regularly shelling the Odesa region’s port infrastructure. Governor Oleh Kiper said late August that one three-hour-long drone attack caused a transshipment complex to catch fire. Grain silos were damaged as well. Nine Shahed drones were intercepted.
On 14 August, a nighttime attack on Odesa injured three civilians. The regional authorities claimed that the Russian army launched three attacks on the region, using two waves of drone strikes.
