Ukraine war: Grain depots in Ukraine hit again, rouble stabilises

Russia pounded grain terminals in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region on Wednesday, local officials said.

They hit storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Kyiv has increasingly used for grain transport to Europe after Moscow broke off a wartime export deal through the Black Sea.

At the same time, a loaded container ship stuck at the port of Odesa since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail and was heading through the Black Sea to the Bosporus along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping.

Ukraine’s economy, crunched by the war, is heavily dependent on farming. Its agricultural exports, like those of Russia, are also crucial for world supplies of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on.

After the Kremlin tore up a month ago an agreement brokered last summer by the UN and Turkey to ensure safe Ukraine grain exports through the Black Sea, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube and road and rail links into Europe.

However, transport costs that way are much higher, some European countries have baulked at the consequences for local grain prices, and the Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports.

Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said the primary targets of Russia’s overnight drone bombardment were port terminals and grain silos, including at the ports in the Danube delta. Air defences managed to intercept 13 drones over Odesa and Mykolaiv regions, according to the Ukraine Air Force’s morning update.

Meanwhile, the container ship departing Odesa was the first vessel to set sail since July 16, according to Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister. It had been stuck in Odesa since February 2022.

The rouble