Source: Reuters

KYIV, July 18 (Reuters) - Russia struck Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, a day
after pulling out of a U.N.-backed deal to let Kyiv export grain, and
Moscow claimed gains on the ground in an area where Ukrainian officials
said Russian forces were going back on the offensive. Russia described a
wave of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's ports as "mass revenge
strikes" in retaliation for attacks by Ukrainian seaborne drones that
knocked out its road bridge to the occupied Crimean Peninsula.

Shortly after the bridge was hit on Monday, Moscow withdrew from a year-
old U.N.-brokered grain export deal, a move the United Nations said
risked creating hunger around the world. Falling debris and blast waves
damaged several homes and unspecified port infrastructure in Russia's
main port, Odesa, according to Ukraine's southern operational military
command.

Local authorities in Mykolaiv, another port, described a serious fire
there. The Russian attacks on ports provide "further proof that the country-terrorist wants to endanger the lives of 400 million people in
various countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports", said Andriy
Yermak, the head of Ukraine's presidential staff.

Ukraine's air force said six Kalibr missiles and 31 out of 36 drones were
shot down. Moscow, for its part, said it had foiled a Ukrainian drone
strike on Crimea, with no major damage on the ground, and had reopened a
single lane of road traffic on the Crimea bridge. Six weeks since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the east and south, Russia is mounting a
ground offensive of its own in the northeast.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-strikes-ukraine- grain-port-after-pulling-out-export-deal-2023-07-18/

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