Ukraine-Russia war: Moscow bombards Odesa with sustained 3-hour drone attack

Russia targeted the Odesa region with a sustained three-and-a-half hour drone attack in the early hours of this morning, Ukraine says, hitting some key port infrastructure.

Ukraine said its air defences succeeded in shooting down 22 of the 25 Iranian-made kamikaze Shahed drones fired by Russia.

At least two civilians were injured in the attack, according to Ukraine’s South Military Command.

The bombardment targeted “civil infrastructure of the Danube [River]”, it said.

Some Ukrainian media reported explosions at the port in Reni, one of the two major Ukrainian facilities on the river, though this was not immediately confirmed by the authorities.

The Danube is now Ukraine’s main route for crucial grain exports, after Russia pulled out of a UN deal that had allowed Kyiv to ship grain via the Black Sea.

Ukraine is the world’s largest wheat producer and its failure to export grain has been one of the key drivers of global food inflation since Russia’s invasion.

Long-range strikes by drone and missile and a raid on territory in occupied Crimea that took Russian forces by surprise – all part of Kyiv’s recent push towards the peninsula that is a symbol of Vladimir Putin‘s territorial ambitions.

Perhaps most significant of all is the capture of the key village of Robotyne, about three hours drive east of Crimea. Gaining that foothold will help Ukraine build a foundation to punch through to the coastline of the Sea of Azov.

Kyiv has been stepping up drone attacks on Crimea as it looks to break key supply lines from the Russian-occupied peninsula, writes Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine:

Drone strikes on Russian soil are only set to increase as Ukraine brings Moscow’s invasion home, a senior Kyiv official has said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to president Volodymyr Zelensky said that it has increased strikes on Russian-occupied areas and would also ramp up attacks within Russia itself. Kyiv does not generally directly claim attacks outside of Ukraine, with Mr Podolyak saying such strikes would be carried out by “agents” or “partisans”.

“As for Russia … there is an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the number of these attacks will increase,” Mr Podolyak told Reuters. “This is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation.”

A Russian air strike on a high rise residential building has killed a married couple, according to the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office.

Ukraine has opened a war crimes investigation into the attack on Vuhledar, which left the couple’s 19-year-old daughter and another resident, 53, injured.

Explosions destroyed the entrance to the building and damaged windows and balconies.

President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an oblique reference to legal proceedings against the Ukrainian business magnate, Ihor Kolomoisky, thanked law enforcement bodies yesterday for their resolve in bringing long-running cases to justice.

“I thank Ukrainian law enforcement officials for their resolve in bringing to a just outcome each and every one of the cases that have been hindered for decades,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly video address.

A Ukrainian court ordered tycoon Ihor Kolomoisky to be held in custody for two months on suspicion of fraud and money laundering yesterday, a striking move against one of the country’s most powerful businessmen.

The detention of Mr Kolomoisky, who is under US sanctions and is a one-time supporter of president Volodymyr Zelensky whose election he backed in 2019, comes as Kyiv is trying to signal progress during a wartime crackdown on corruption.

Defence lawyers said Mr Kolomoisky would appeal the ruling, questioning its legality, but that he would not post bail of almost $14 million in order to secure his release, broadcaster Radio Liberty reported.

After a hearing at a district court in Kyiv late yesterday, Mr Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s richest men, was shown being led away in a blue tracksuit jacket in television footage. He could not be reached for comment.

The Security Service of Ukraine announced the case against Mr Kolomoisky yesterday morning, publishing photographs on Telegram Messenger showing him being served documents by security officers and signing them.

“It was established that during 2013-2020, Ihor Kolomoisky legalised more than half a billion hryvnias ($14 million) by withdrawing them abroad and using the infrastructure of banks under (his) control,” the agency said in a statement.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that two more ships had passed through a “temporary” Black Sea shipping corridor established since Russia withdrew from a UN-backed grain export deal in July.

“Two ships have successfully passed through our temporary ‘grain corridor’,” Mr Zelensky posted on X, previously known as Twitter.

The president did not identify the vessels involved or say when they had completed their passage. Officials on Friday said two vessels had cleared the corridor – bringing to four the number that have used it.

Mr Zelensky said Ukraine was “restoring true freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. Freedom requires determination.”

On Friday, a Ukrainian deputy prime minister said two vessels had passed through the corridor from the port of Pivdenny: one flagged in Liberia, the other in the Marshall Islands. The vessels were carrying pig iron and iron concentrate.

Russia has blockaded Ukrainian ports since it invaded its neighbour in February 2022, and threatened to treat all vessels as potential military targets after pulling out of the UN-backed deal.

Traffic on the main bridge linking the Russian mainland with the Crimean Peninsula resumed after a brief suspension early today, the Russian-installed operator of the bridge said on the Telegram messaging app.

The administration did not disclose the reason for the suspension. Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 in a move condemned by many Western governments as illegal.

The Crimean Bridge has been a target of increased air and sea drone attacks in recent months.

The Wagner founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, is confirmed to have died in a plane crash – a turn of events that appears to leave his Wagner Group fighters rudderless and facing a highly uncertain future.

Prigozhin, a convict, turned gourmet restaurateur, turned warlord, was onboard an Embraer private jet flying from Moscow to St Petersburg when it came down over the Tver region, killing everyone on board. Two other senior commanders, Dmitry Utkin and Valery Chekalov, were also on the passenger list.

The crash came exactly two months after Prigozhin led his men in a mutiny that gravely embarrassed Russian president Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, his fighters leaving their posts in southern Ukraine to occupy the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don before marching on Moscow along the M4 highway.

Drone strikes on Russian soil are only set to increase as Ukraine brings Moscow’s invasion home, a senior Kyiv official has said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it has increased strikes on Russian-occupied areas and would also ramp up attacks within Russia itself. Kyiv does not generally directly claim attacks outside of Ukraine, with Mr Podolyak saying such strikes would be carried out by “agents” or “partisans”.

“As for Russia … there is an increasing number of attacks by unidentified drones launched from the territory of the Russian Federation, and the number of these attacks will increase,” Mr Podolyak told Reuters. “This is the stage of the war when hostilities are gradually being transferred to the territory of the Russian Federation.”