Romania closed the river port of Isaccea for the second time in less than two weeks this Friday due to a new Russian attack on the Ukrainian side of the Danube, the Romanian coast guard announced.
The attack targeted the port of Orlovka, six kilometers from Isaccea, and destroyed a grain silo and nine trucks, the head of the Ukrainian region’s military administration, Oleg Kiper, said.
Images of the aftermath of the attack on Orlovka, Odessa region – the crossing is on fire at the landing site pic.twitter.com/0o85LNyJzb
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Romania is part of the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) military alliance.
“Traffic at the Isaccea border crossing was suspended on Friday after ‘drone’ attacks [aparelhos não tripulados] at night on the Ukrainian side of the Danube,” the coast guard told local news agency Agerpres.
The two ferries crossing from one bank of the Danube to the other were anchored on the Romanian side, the same source said, according to Spanish agency EFE.
Romanian media have released images from the Romanian border of an explosion that took place in the port of Orlovka.
A similar situation led to the suspension of river traffic between the two countries on September 26.
Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube were repeated in September and at least twice fragments of Russian drones were found on the Romanian side, that is, on NATO territory..
Attacks by the Russian armed forces on the port infrastructure on the Danube
At night, Russian troops again attacked targets in the Odessa region with kamikaze drones “Geran”. Several arrivals took place via the infrastructure at the port of Izmail and the Orlovka ferry crossing… pic.twitter.com/GTrHQlJ5gI
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The incidents prompted Romania to activate telephone alerts to warn residents in border areas of possible risks, as well as the construction of two bomb shelters in the town of Plauru.
Russia has stepped up attacks on river ports in western Ukraine after suspending participation in agreements allowing exports of Ukrainian grains blocked by war in July.
Ukraine’s Western allies have accused Russia of endangering global food security by trying to prevent grain from leaving the country it invaded on February 24, 2022.
Last Friday, Russia announced that talks on grains with the UN will take place in Moscow next week.
On the UN side, the Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Martin Griffiths, and the Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Rebeca Grynspan, are participating.
The UN signed the agreements with the two warring countries and Turkey in July 2022.
According to the UN, in about a year, more than 32 million tons of food products left three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea to 45 countries on three continents.
Moscow suspended the agreement on July 17, saying Western countries had not removed logistical and banking obstacles to the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers as planned.
Such obstacles are the result of the sanctions imposed on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.
The agreement is considered crucial for global food security.
According to the British magazine The Economist, before the war, Ukraine and Russia together supplied 28% of the world’s wheat, 29% of its barley, 15% of its corn and 75% of its sunflower oil.
Source: DN
