🔴 Live: Russia targets Ukrainian port as grain ships defy Black Sea blockade

Global NewsXSeptember 3, 2023Last Updated: September 3, 2023

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🔴 Live: Russia targets Ukrainian port as grain ships defy Black Sea blockade

Ukraine’s air force said early on Sunday it had destroyed 22 Russian drones during an overnight attack on the southern Odesa region, though three other drones hit their targets, damaging port infrastructure on the Danube River and injuring at least two people. The attack comes a day after Kyiv said two more cargo ships had sailed through the Black Sea in defiance of a Russian blockade. Follow our liveblog for the latest updates on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).

Issued on: 03/09/2023 – 07:13Modified: 03/09/2023 – 07:30

2 min

7:15am: Ukraine says fire quickly extinguished at Danube port facility

Ukraine’s military said a fire that resulted from the early-morning drone attack was quickly extinguished. There was no detail on which port facility was hit.

The Danube has become Ukraine’s main route for exporting grain since the collapse of a UN-brokered deal in July that had allowed Kyiv to ship its grain via the Black Sea.

Last month, the first civilian cargo ship sailing through the Black Sea from Ukraine arrived in Istanbul in defiance of the Russian blockade.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that two more vessels had passed through the country’s “temporary Black Sea grain corridor”.

5:15am: Two injured in Russian drone attack on Danube port infrastructure

An attack by 25 drones launched by Russia in the early hours of Sunday hit and damaged port infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, Ukrainian military officials have said.

Ukraine’s South Military Command said on social media at least two civilians were injured in the attack on what it said was the “civil infrastructure of the Danube”.

Ukraine’s air defence systems shot down 22 of the Iranian-made Shahed drones, the Air Force said, adding that the attack lasted 3.5 hours.

Key developments from Saturday, September 2:

The Nobel Foundation said on Saturday that it was reversing its decision to invite ambassadors from Russia and Belarus to this year’s Nobel award ceremony in Stockholm, after the move sparked an angry backlash.

The news came as Russia said its forces had destroyed Ukrainian naval drones that were attempting to target the strategic Crimea bridge linking mainland Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula Moscow annexed in 2014.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv’s troops were “moving forward” in their counteroffensive, rebuffing Western officials who argued that Ukrainian forces were gaining ground too slowly.

Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.