Ukrainian authorities claim that several cities in the south of the country are the target of “unmanned aerial vehicle” attacks carried out by Russia.
Ukrainian air defenses were activated early on Tuesday in the southern Odessa region, a key area for the grain deal that expired on Monday evening, local authorities said. “Combat air defense operations continue,” Sergiy Bratchuk, an Odessa region administration official, said on Telegram.
According to the Ukrainian operational command for the south of the country, “the enemy is attacking the southern regions with unmanned aerial vehicles”, he said on Telegram.
Attacks on several cities in the country
Southern Ukraine is targeted by “drone attacks”, regional governor Oleg Kiper reported on the same social network, calling on the population to stay in shelters until the air alert is lifted.
Air alerts were in progress early Tuesday across the country, in the regions of Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporijjia but also in those of Donetsk (south-east), Kharkiv (east), Dnipropetrovsk (center-east), Poltava (east), Kirovograd (center) and Cherkassy (center).
Odessa, whose historic center was inscribed on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage in Danger in January, has been bombed several times since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
After Moscow’s invasion began, Ukrainian Black Sea ports were blocked by Russian warships until an agreement, signed in July 2022 under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey , allows the passage of essential grain exports.
The Odessa region has three ports that were part of the crucial global food deal that expired Monday night. Moscow had previously made known its refusal to extend it by denouncing the obstacles to trade in Russian agricultural products.
Source: BFM TV
