Ukraine’s air defenses were activated this Tuesday in the Odessa (south) region, a key area for the grain deal suspended by Russia on Monday, local authorities said.
“Odessa. Air defense operations continue,” regional government official Sergiy Bratchuk wrote on the Telegram platform.
“The enemy attacks the southern regions with unmanned aerial vehicles” [drones]he added, citing the Ukrainian operational command for the south of the country.
Southern Ukraine is being targeted by “drone attacks”, regional governor Oleg Kiper noted on the same platform, calling on the population to remain in shelters until air-raid alerts are lifted.
Air warnings are in effect in the regions of Odessa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporijia, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Poltava, Kirovograd and Cherkassy.
Odessa, whose historic center has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in danger since January, has been bombed several times since the beginning of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022.
After the start of the invasion, Ukrainian Black Sea ports were blockaded by Russian warships until an agreement signed in July 2022 between the UN and Turkey allowed the transit of grain exports.
Russia on Monday suspended the agreement on the export of grains via the Black Sea from Ukrainian ports, arguing that commitments on the Russian side were not kept.
The Odessa region has three ports that were part of the agreement.
Source: DN
