Russia Strikes Grain Stores at Danube Ports Amid Ukraine War

(VitalNews.org) – Ukrainian officials said on July 24th that Russian drones attacked different ports on the Danube River. They explained these attacks destroyed crucial grain storage infrastructure. This comes after Russian armed forces destroyed a grain depot in the port city of Odesa near the Black Sea, in retaliation for the Kerch Bridge attack in Crimea.

Odesa head Oleh Kiper, whose region covers the Izmail and Reni ports in the Danube, said that Russia used Iranian-made drones in the attack. He also said in his official Telegram channel that important tanks for storage and grain hangars were “completely” destroyed, while three warehouses were damaged. Kiper added that Ukrainian defenses “eliminated” 15 of the drones involved in this operation.

Different reports explained that the attack against the ports on the Danube could have prompted a significant escalation of the war as these are across the river of Romania, which is a NATO member. Romanian officials already announced they are willing and ready to respond if the country suffers any attack from Russia.

In a statement published on his Twitter account, Romanian President Klaus Yohannis said that the attacks against the ports were “very close” to his country. He also said this represented “a serious risk” to the Black Sea security, as well as affected Ukraine’s grain transit and global food security.

The Danube River is one of the main export routes for Ukraine since the Kremlin pulled out of an agreement that allowed Kyiv to ship corn, wheat, and many other products through the Black Sea. According to a press release from the United Nations, over 60,000 tons of grain have been destroyed by the Russian military since last week.

Since Russia’s pullout from the grain agreement, global markets have experienced a grain price rise of 8 percent. Political analysts such as Montes de Oca or Ian Bremmer have said the collapse of this agreement means that Russia could resume its attacks against Ukrainian ports. These were officially suspended during the agreement.