The latest target in a series of Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports (which began on July 19th) is the city of Izmail – resulting in damaged port and shipping infrastructure. The attack took place in the early hours of Wednesday morning, uncomfortably close to Romania.
Izmail is in Odessa Oblast – southern Ukraine and its port lies just the width of the Danube River from Romanian territory, a NATO state. There are no reported casualties.
According to the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov – Russian Shahed drones destroyed a silo containing 40,000 tonnes of grain, grain which would have fed those in Africa, China and Israel. This, in turn, has led to soaring global food prices as Russia intensifies efforts to stop exportation of Ukrainian grain.
„In their madness, they need world food markets to collapse, they need a price crisis, they need disruptions in supplies”, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in an official response.
The attack has blocked the port for returning Ukrainian trade ships which were heading to load up with grain. Stakes are high as access to Romania via the Danube acts as a vital way for Ukraine to export grain now that other routes through the Black Sea are blocked – making the attack potentially detrimental to global food markets.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis tweeted:http://
Russia’s continued attacks against the Ukrainian🇺🇦 civilian infrastructure on #Danube, in the proximity of Romania🇷🇴, are unacceptable. These are war crimes and they further affect UA’s capacity to transfer their food products towards those in need in the world.
— Klaus Iohannis (@KlausIohannis) August 2, 2023
The attack could be seen in the night by numerous eye witnesses on the Romanian side of the Danube. Eyewitness videos circulated on social media.
Explosions have been reported at Izmail which is located in the Odesa oblast.
Izmail notably sits on the border with Romania. The only thing that divides it is the Danube River.
Russia is playing a dangerous game. pic.twitter.com/wlrB6NIrOb
— Global: Military-Info (@Global_Mil_Info) August 2, 2023Only last week Russia hosted a summit in St Petersburg with several African countries, where Putin promised to provide six African countries with grain which would help to make up for the blocked Ukrainian grain.
The collapse of the UN brokered 2022 Black Sea grain deal in July of this year (after Russia announced they would no longer uphold their end of the deal) threatens that Russia could strike any ship leaving a Ukrainian port, considering it a military target.
“In the coming months, we will be ready to provide Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea with 25,000-50,000 tonnes of grain free of charge”, Putin declared. Attendees at the conference left the two day conference with no sufficient alternative deal in place, despite requests from various world powers for the Black Sea grain deal to be upheld.
Ukraine is one of the world’s main exporters of grain and has exported 32 million tonnes of it since the Black Sea grain deal was brokered.
“We would like the Black Sea initiative to be implemented and that the Black Sea should be open”, said South African President Cyril Ramaphosa – to no avail.
Other buildings in the port of Izmail were also destroyed, including the office of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company and a marine passenger terminal. Workers are reported to be back today cleaning out the damaged office space.
Unlike Odessa’s port, which has been hit multiple times by Russia, Ukrainian ports on the Danube had not been hit until July 24th, likely due to their close proximity to NATO territory – a precaution seemingly now laid by the wayside.
Oleksandra Chuvakina, 32, is from Izmail. She predicts a temporary flow of people out of Odessa Oblast region and into Romania, yesterday she saw “the flow of cars on their way to the various customs checkpoints”.
On the night of the attack, Oleksandra observed from her garden as the burning buildings glowed in the distance. She had been expecting an attack at some point, “it was said more than once, but we were not ready for it to be in such a way” – in reference to Shahed drones.
According to Russian state news agency RIA – the buildings hit were housing foreign mercenaries and military hardware.
Izmail has had little to no disturbances due to Russian terror since the start of the war.
“At night locals felt fear, confusion, anxiety. I think that now the mood has changed to anger towards the aggressor” – explains Oleksandra.
In a call with Turkey’s president Erdogan, Putin expressed that the Black Sea grain deal can be upheld by Russia „as soon as the West actually fulfils all the obligations to Russia” within the deal – this comes as Russia has accused the West of inhibiting grain and fertilizer exports, which are not currently sanctioned.
