Russia steps up assault on Ukraine’s ports and threatens attack on ships

It comes as Ukraine is said to have used cluster bombs sent by the US in battle for the first time

A firefighter in a building heavily damaged by Thursday’s Russian missile strike in Odesa (State Emergency Service of Ukraine via Reuters)

Russia has stepped up its assault on Ukraine’s ports with a third night of air strikes and a threat it is now treating all ships heading for those ports as potential military targets.

Saying that Moscow was deliberately turning the Black Sea into a “danger zone”, Kyiv responded in kind by announcing that from Friday, ships heading for Russian ports – or Russian-occupied ports in Ukraine – would be treated in the same way, as if they are carrying weapons or other military cargo.

Washington called Russia’s threat a signal that Moscow might attack civilian shipping and said Moscow was also releasing new mines into the sea. “We believe that this is a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks,” White House National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge had said.

It follows Moscow’s decision to withdraw earlier this week from a UN-brokered deal to let Ukraine export grain. The signal that Russia was willing to use force to reimpose its blockade of one of the world’s biggest food exporters set global prices soaring. US wheat futures rose an additional 1.5 per cent in the early hours of Thursday, after they jumped 8.5 per cent on Wednesday, their fastest single-day rise since the initial days of Russia’s invasion in February last year. The UN Security Council will meet on Friday over the “humanitarian consequences” of Russia’s withdrawal from the deal, which Ukraine and its allies have said is weaponising food in a way that could affect millions of people.

Russia has targeted Ukrainian critical grain export infrastructure since it vowed “retribution” for an attack that damaged a crucial bridge between Russia and the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula in the hours before the Kremlin said it was ending the grain export deal. Russian officials blamed that strike on Ukrainian drone boats.

Since quitting the deal, Moscow has rained missiles down nightly on Ukraine’s two biggest port cities, Odesa and Mykolaiv. Thursday’s strikes appeared to be the worst yet. The Russian military described its strikes on Odesa on Thursday as “retaliatory”.

At least three people were killed and more than 20 civilians were reported hurt in the air strikes on the ports, which set buildings ablaze and damaged China’s consulate in Odesa. According to Ukrainian officials, in Odesa, a security guard was killed and at least eight other people were hurt. A married couple was killed in the city of Mykolaiv, while regional governor Vitaliy Kim had said earlier that 19 people were hurt in the city, and several residential buildings were damaged.

The previous night, a Russian bombardment using drones and missiles damaged critical port infrastructure in Odesa and destroyed at least 60,000 tons of grain. The European Union’s foreign affairs chief condemned Russia’s targeting of grain storage facilities.

“More than 60,000 tons of grain has been burned,” Josep Borrell said in Brussels on Thursday, regarding Moscow’s recent tactics. “So not only did they withdraw from the grain agreement — but they are burning the grain.”

German foreign affairs minister Annalena Baerbock said at the same meeting that the EU is involved in international efforts to get Ukrainian grain to the world market.

“The fact that the Russian president [Vladimir Putin] has cancelled the grain agreement and is now bombing the port of Odesa is not only another attack on Ukraine but an attack on the people, on the poorest people in the world,” she said. “Hundreds of thousands of people, not to say millions, urgently need grain from Ukraine.”

Elsewhere, in Russian-annexed Crimea, “an enemy drone” – an apparent reference to Ukraine – attacked a settlement in the peninsula’s northwest, the region’s Moscow-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov, claimed on Thursday. He suggested the attack damaged several administrative buildings and killed a teenage girl.

Ukraine is also said to have launched its first cluster bomb attack against Russian forces in southeastern Ukraine. The Washington Post reported that the controversial weapons were fired at Russian trenches, citing Ukrainian officials familiar with the matter. Cluster munitions disperse large numbers of tiny bomblets over a wide area.

It is the first report of the weapons’ use since the US started sending them to Kyiv this month. Although their use is banned by more than 100 countries via an international treaty, none of Russia, Ukraine and the US are signatories. The munitions have been used by both Ukraine and Russia following Russia’s invasion

On the diplomatic front, Russia has said it is imposing restrictions on British diplomatic officials in the country – apart from the ambassador and three other top officials – demanding they give five days’ notice before travelling further than 75 miles. Moscow summoned senior diplomat Tom Dodd to its foreign ministry to tell him of the move on Thursday.

It came after MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore urged Russians angry at Mr Putin’s war in Ukraine to spy for Britain.

The US also imposed new Russia-related sanctions on Thursday, targeting 18 individuals and dozens of organisations and aimed at blocking Moscow’s access to products that support its war against Ukraine, the Treasury Department said. Canada also announced a number of sanctions against Russian individuals and businesses, while the EU said it was extending its own Russian sanctions by six months, until 31 January 2024.

Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report