Two injured as Russia attacks Odesa infrastructure with 25 drones
Russia launched a three-and-a-half hour drone attack on the southern parts of the Odesa region early on Sunday, hitting Danube River port infrastructure and injuring at least two people, Kyiv said.
Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down 22 of the 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia launched on Odesa in the early Sunday hours, Reuters reports Ukraine’s air force as saying on Telegram.
Ukraine’s south military command said on social media at least two civilians were injured in the attack on what it said was the “civil infrastructure of the Danube”.
The Danube has become Ukraine’s main route for exporting grain since the collapse of a UN-brokered deal in July that had allowed Kyiv to ship its grain via the Black Sea.
There was no detail on which port facility was hit. The military said a fire that resulted from the attack at the facility was quickly extinguished.
Some Ukrainian media reported blasts in the Reni port, one of the two major ports on the Danube that Ukraine operates. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Key events
Here are some of the latest images coming in from Ukraine over news agency wires.
Traffic on the main bridge linking the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula resumed after a brief suspension early on Sunday, the Russian-installed operator of the bridge said on Telegram.
The administration did not disclose the reason for the suspension, Reuters reports.
But Russia’s defence ministry said early on Saturday that its forces had destroyed an unmanned Ukrainian boat and three naval drones being used in an attempt to attack the Crimea bridge.
The bridge has been a target of increased air and sea drone attacks in recent months.
Two injured as Russia attacks Odesa infrastructure with 25 drones
Russia launched a three-and-a-half hour drone attack on the southern parts of the Odesa region early on Sunday, hitting Danube River port infrastructure and injuring at least two people, Kyiv said.
Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down 22 of the 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia launched on Odesa in the early Sunday hours, Reuters reports Ukraine’s air force as saying on Telegram.
Ukraine’s south military command said on social media at least two civilians were injured in the attack on what it said was the “civil infrastructure of the Danube”.
The Danube has become Ukraine’s main route for exporting grain since the collapse of a UN-brokered deal in July that had allowed Kyiv to ship its grain via the Black Sea.
There was no detail on which port facility was hit. The military said a fire that resulted from the attack at the facility was quickly extinguished.
Some Ukrainian media reported blasts in the Reni port, one of the two major ports on the Danube that Ukraine operates. There was no immediate comment from Russia.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the Russia’s war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a snapshot of the latest news to bring you up to speed.
Russia launched an attack with 25 drones on the Odesa region’s south early on Sunday, hitting port infrastructure on the Danube River and injuring at least two people, Kyiv said.
Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down 22 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones that Russia launched in the three-and-a-half hour attack.
More on that story shortly. In other key developments:
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Ukrainian forces have decisively breached Russia’s first defensive line near Zaporizhzhia after weeks of painstaking mine clearance, and expect faster gains as they press the weaker second line, the general leading the southern counteroffensive has told the Observer. Brig Gen Oleksandr Tarnavskiy estimated Russia had devoted 60% of its time and resources into building the first defensive line and only 20% each into the second and third lines because Moscow had not expected Ukrainian forces to get through.
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Ukrainian forces were “on the move”, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as the US acknowledged the “notable progress” of the counteroffensive over the past few days. Zelenskiy said on Telegram: “Despite everything and no matter what anyone says, we are advancing, and that is the most important thing.”
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A Ukrainian court ordered tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky to be held in custody for two months on suspicion of fraud and money laundering on Saturday. The detention of Kolomoisky, who is under US sanctions and is a one-time supporter of Zelenskiy, comes as Kyiv is trying to signal progress in a corruption crackdown.
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The Nobel Foundation has reversed its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm, after the move sparked anger in Sweden and abroad. The foundation said on Saturday that it had chosen “to repeat last year’s exception to regular practice – that is, to not invite the ambassadors of Russia, Belarus and Iran”.
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Russia has taken down three Ukrainian drones over the Belgorod region, the Russian defence ministry said on Saturday, while the regional governor said one man had been killed in a Ukrainian rocket strike on a village close to the border. Separately, the governors of the nearby frontier regions of Bryansk and Kursk said a string of border villages had come under fire from Ukraine, and a woman had been wounded in the Kursk region.
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Zelenskiy said on Saturday that two more ships had passed through a “temporary” Black Sea shipping corridor established after Russia withdrew from a UN-backed grain export deal in July. On Friday officials said two vessels had cleared the corridor, bringing to four the number that have used it.
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The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is to host his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for talks on Monday, the Kremlin has announced. It comes just over six weeks after Moscow broke off the deal brokered by Ankara and the UN that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets.
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Russia risks dividing its forces as it seeks to prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough in Ukraine’s south, the UK Ministry of Defence said. It said Ukrainian forces continued to take offensive action on the Orikhiv axis in southern Ukraine, with units reaching the first Russian main defensive line.
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Russia’s defence ministry said its forces destroyed an unmanned Ukrainian boat and three naval drones being used in an attempt to attack the bridge linking the Crimean peninsula to the Russian mainland. The vessel had been “spotted and destroyed in time off the Black Sea coast”, it said early on Saturday.
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Elections are under way in Russian-controlled provinces of Ukraine as part of a move to cement Moscow’s authorities in its “new territories” despite the ongoing conflict. Russia does not fully control any of the four regions where the votes are being held – Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
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The largest refugee centre established to home Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion has been closed by Poland after it said the sanctuary was no longer required, since most had now found homes elsewhere.
