Russia’s defense ministry said on Tuesday it had destroyed Ukrainian forces’ installations in Odessa used in Monday’s attack on Crimea.
“During the night, the Russian armed forces launched a retaliatory strike (…) against facilities where terrorist acts against Russia were being prepared, using naval drones,” the defense ministry said in a statement.
The same document adds that “the place where they were manufactured (drones), in a shipyard near the city of Odessa”, was also hit.
Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov, the Russian military spokesman, meanwhile, said that in Odessa and also in Mikolayiv, the depots where Ukrainian forces kept about 70,000 tons of fuel for military use were destroyed last night.
Russian head of state Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow would “without fail respond to the terrorist attack” by Ukraine on the Kerch Bridge that connects the 2014-annexed Crimean peninsula to mainland Russia.
According to information released by Russian authorities, a couple died in the attack on the bridge and their daughter was injured.
The attack, reportedly carried out by naval drones, has rendered one of the bridge’s roads useless.
Ukraine interpreted the night attack on Odessa as a “warning” to Kiev about the suspension of the agreement on grain exports via the Black Sea, which expired Monday.
“Russia’s night attack on Odessa with the use of missiles is further proof that it is the terrorist country (Russia) that seeks to endanger the lives of 400 million people in various countries dependent on Ukraine’s food exports,” said Andri Yermak on Tuesday. Chief of Cabinet of the President of Ukraine.
Russia canceled all shipping guarantees and imposed restrictions on the humanitarian corridor, as well as the participation of the Joint Center in Istanbul, which coordinated the so-called Black Sea Initiative for the export of Ukrainian grains.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on February 24, 2022 has so far led to the flight of more than 14.7 million people, 6.5 million internally displaced persons and more than 8.2 million to European countries, according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion, justified by the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security, was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and to impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
Source: DN
