Ukrainian officials said Wednesday that Russia damaged grain infrastructure at a port in the Odesa region in southern Ukraine as part of an overnight drone attack.

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Telegram the attack targeted the port of Reni on the Danube River.

Odesa’s Gov. Oleh Kiper said on Telegram the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at the port.

Odesa’s Gov. Oleh Kiper said on Telegram the attack damaged warehouses and grain storage facilities at a port on the Danube River.

Kiper said there were no reported casualties from the attack, and that Ukraine’s air force had downed 11 Russian drones over Odesa.

The Ukrainian military said its air defenses destroyed 13 total drones overnight, saying Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed drones to target Odesa and Mykolaiv.

In the eastern part of the country, Ukrainian forces recaptured the settlement of Urozhaine in the Donetsk region, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said.

“Urozhaine liberated,” Maliar said on Telegram. “Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts.”

Russia’s defense ministry said Wednesday its air defense systems destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga region.

The Russian ministry said the early morning attack did not cause any injuries or infrastructure damage.

Black Sea shipping

The Hong-Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte left Ukraine’s port of Odesa on Wednesday.  

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel was the first to set off down a temporary Black Sea corridor that Ukraine established for civilian ships following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

The Joseph Schulte was carrying 30,000 metric tons of cargo, Kubrakov said.  The vessel had been stuck in Odesa since Russian launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia has not said whether it will respect Ukraine’s shipping corridor.  On Sunday, a Russian patrol ship fired warning shots at a vessel after what Russia said was a failure by the captain to respond to a request for an inspection.  

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters
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