Russia Targets Ukrainian Ports in Yet More Overnight Missile and Drone Attacks

At least 20 people have been injured after yet another night of Russian missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian port cities.

In Mykolaiv 18 people had been wounded and nine of them had been hospitalised, including five children, the region’s governor Vitaliy Kim wrote on Telegram.

"Russians hit the city centre. A garage and a 3-story residential building are on fire," he said.

Pictures posted to Telegram by Mykolaiv mayor Oleksandr Senkevych showed a fire engine working to douse flames in a multi-storey building with its facade partially destroyed.

"At least five residential high-rise buildings" and around 15 garages were damaged, he said, without giving details.

Mykolaiv is located on the Black Sea, about 170 kilometres (100 miles) from Moscow-annexed Crimea. Russian forces have frequently targeted it since Moscow launched its invasion in February 2022.

A third consecutive night of attacks targeted Odesa where ports a were until recently a key transit hubs for the export of grain from Ukraine until Moscow said earlier this week it would withdraw from a deal giving safe passage to cargo ships in the Black Sea.

The city of Odesa had been attacked, regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on Telegram, without specifying the nature of the attack.

"As a result of the Russian attack, there is destruction in the centre of Odesa," he said.

Authorities had information on "two hospitalised victims", he said, without giving details.

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Berezhinskaya, a theatre director, had railed against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, saying Moscow’s soldiers were killing civilians and destroying cities in a naked land grab.

Kyiv on Wednesday claimed Russia had destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain meant for export in overnight strikes around Odesa, with President Zelensky accusing Moscow of "deliberately" targeting the supplies.

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year saw Black Sea ports blocked by warships until the gain agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022.

The Kremlin said on Monday it was exiting the deal, after months of complaining that the parts that had allowed the export of Russian food and fertilisers had not been honoured.

The deal enabled the export of more than 32 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain over the last year, bringing relief to countries facing critical food shortages such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Yemen.

Wheat prices soared on the European stock exchange on Wednesday.

Also Wednesday Moscow said it would consider cargo ships travelling to Ukraine through the Black Sea potential military targets.

Denise Brown, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, said in a statement: "I am horrified by the images of last night’s attacks by Russian forces on the port of Odesa.

"It is the second day in a row that this civilian port, a crucial lifeline for Ukraine and for the poorest people in the world who depend on Ukrainian grain, has been severely damaged in massive strikes.

"This is inhumane and against international humanitarian law. Attacks on civilian infrastructure must stop now."