Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia launched missile and drone attacks on vessels in the Black Sea and Sea of Azov on Thursday, escalating hostilities in waterways vital to grain exports. The attacks have contributed to rising global wheat prices and disrupted shipping operations.
Maritime attacks
Ukraine’s military said it struck six Russian tankers and two tugboats. Russia’s defence ministry said its forces hit a maritime vessel and a speedboat belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces while they were en route to ports in the Odesa region.
Russia’s defence ministry also said its forces struck other military and industrial targets.
Grain shipping restrictions
Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, including oil refineries and tankers, in an effort to undermine Moscow’s war effort.
Russia has also increased strikes on Ukraine’s deepwater Black Sea ports in the Greater Odesa area, which handle much of the country’s grain and other cargo and are vital to its wartime economy.
Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia, the world’s largest grain exporter, to restrict shipping in the Sea of Azov, a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters. Shipping remained restricted on Thursday.
“Navigation both to and from the sea is not being carried out for now,” one source said.
Ukrainian port operations and Kyiv strike
Two of Ukraine’s three Black Sea ports were operating normally on Thursday morning, while the port of Chornomorsk had sharply reduced its grain intake, Ukrainian state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said.
Ukrzaliznytsia said 901,300 metric tons of grain had been sent toward the ports since the start of July, a volume lower than in the previous month.
Ukrainian officials said Russian ballistic missiles struck at least two districts of Kyiv early on Thursday, triggering fires and killing two people.
