Russia strikes Ukrainian grain infrastructure on Danube: ‘Terrorists’

Russian forces launched an aerial assault targeting infrastructure at a Ukrainian port on the Danube on Wednesday.

Overnight drone strikes in the Odesa region targeted the Danube port of Izmail, damaging a grain elevator, silos, warehouses, and administrative buildings, Kyiv said. No casualties were reported.

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“The world must respond. When civilian ports are targeted, when terrorists deliberately destroy even grain elevators, it is a threat to everyone on all continents. Russia can and must be stopped,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

The river itself serves as a natural barrier between Ukraine and Romania, effectively serving as a physical border between Russia’s war in Ukraine and the NATO alliance.

Russia has frequently targeted Ukraine’s ports over the last couple weeks since Moscow withdrew its participation from a grain deal, brokered last summer initially by Turkey and the United Nations, that allowed vital Ukrainian exports — mainly grain — to leave the ports to prevent what looked like it could become a global food crisis, though those fears have since been reignited.

“Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide. However, Russia chose the path of killing, starvation, and terrorism,” the Ukrainian military said on X, the platform previously known as Twitter.

“Russia’s continued attacks against the Ukrainian civilian infrastructure on Danube, in the proximity of Romania, are unacceptable,” Romanian leader Klaus Iohannis posted on Wednesday. “These are war crimes and they further affect [Ukraine]’s capacity to transfer their food products towards those in need in the world.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke on Wednesday about the grain deal.

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“Expressing that steps should not be taken to escalate tensions during the Russia-Ukraine war, President Erdogan underlined the importance of the Black Sea Initiative, which he considers a ‘bridge of peace,'” Erdogan’s office said in a statement. “Pointing out that the long-term shutdown of the Black Sea Initiative will not benefit anyone, and that the countries in need of grain and low income will suffer the most, President Erdogan pointed out that the prices of grains, which decreased by 23 percent during the implementation period, increased by 15 percent in the last two weeks.”

The Kremlin, in a statement, said it would be ready to return to the agreement “as soon as the West actually fulfills all the obligations to Russia fixed in them.”