Because they span such a large area and Russia has intensified its missile attacks, the head of the Odesa region in Ukraine has stated that its three ports are “not possible” to fully protect.
He was speaking to the BBC after a Russian strike on a two-story building north of Odesa city killed a 16-year-old girl, two women, and a man.
Oleh Kiper, head of the region, stated that “probably a ballistic missile was targeting an infrastructure facility, but it hit nearby instead – into this place.” This was the fourth such attack on the Black Sea coastal region in the past five days.
Russia has not provided any feedback regarding its missile strikes. An attack on a cargo ship early on Thursday resulted in the deaths of nine additional individuals.
Odesa’s ports have been the target of ballistic missile attacks in the past. But never before have so many occurred at once.
According to Oleksiy Kuleba, deputy prime minister, Russia had carried out 60 of these attacks in just three months, causing damage or destruction to nearly 300 port facilities. He stated that 22 civilian vessels had been hit, and 79 people had died or been injured.
According to Oleh Kiper, who spoke with the BBC, Odesa’s current air defenses were unable to protect all three ports in the Odesa region because they were spread out over about 50 miles (80 km). As a result, the city of Odesa, home to more than a million people, is the primary focus. The remaining ports and towns continue to face difficulties.
Due to the closure of other Ukrainian ports in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, and Mykolayiv regions, Odesa’s facilities are now more crucial than ever for Ukrainian exports.
He suggested that Russia was attacking civilian vessels right now to hurt the economy of Ukraine and show the world what it could do, he said.
According to Kiper, “they hit [the ships in Odesa] so that the ship owners and insurance companies refuse to enter our ports, into the combat zone.”
A prominent Ukrainian journalist who documented life under occupation in Crimea and eastern Ukraine has died while being held in Russian custody, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor-general.
