Russian attack damages port infra in Odesa city

Kyiv, July 19

Missiles and drones launched by Russia in an intense series of nation-wide nightime air attacks have damaged critical port infrastructure in Volodymyr Zelenskyy-led Ukraine’s Odesa, including grain and oil terminals, and wounded at least 12 people.

The air raid targeted the southern port city of Odesa for a second night in a row, days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would halt its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which enabled crucial grain exports to reach the world, including many countries facing the threat of hunger.

Meanwhile, Russian emergency officials in Crimea said that more than 2,200 people were evacuated from four villages because of fire at a military facility. The fire also caused the closure of an important highway, according to Sergey Aksyonov, the Russia-appointed head of the peninsula, which was annexed in 2014. In Ukraine’s Zhytomyr region, Russian drone attacks damaged some infrastructure and private homes, according to regional Governor Vitalii Bunechko. No casualties were reported. Officials in the Ukrainian regions of Poltava and Kirovohrad also reported attacks.

Meanwhile, Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his Wagner fighters to Belarus and telling them they would for now take no further part in the Ukraine war. He had led a recent mutiny in Russia that lasted for a few hours. — Agencies

All set for China-Russia naval drills

• China says it has dispatched navy ships in preparation for joint exercises with Russia’s sea forces, in a sign of Beijing’s continuing support for Moscow’s invasion of neighbouring Ukraine.
• The move comes despite the growing economic and humanitarian repercussions of the war. China claims to be neutral in the conflict.