April 14 (Reuters) – Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Izmail port in the southern Odesa region overnight and damaged a civilian Panama-flagged vessel, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday.
Several strikes were recorded at the port area, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said, adding that separate infrastructure elements and equipment were also damaged.
“The enemy is once again deliberately striking critical infrastructure and logistics in the Odesa region,” Kuleba said on the Telegram messaging app.
One of the strikes caused a fire, which was quickly extinguished, he said.
The Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority said the port continued to operate.
Izmail lies on the Danube at the southwestern tip of Ukraine and faces Romanian territory on the other riverbank. It has become an important and frequently hit logistical area for wartime Ukraine https://www.reuters.com/world/ukraine-russia-war/.
The Ukrainian navy said the attacks caused a fire on the “LADY MARIS” vessel, which was en route to the port of Chornomorsk to load Ukrainian corn. The crew were unharmed, it added.
Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said that a berth and a barge were damaged at the port.
In the surrounding region, the strikes destroyed a car repair shop and triggered a fire that consumed two passenger buses and seven cars, Kiper said.
Six private houses also came under attack, with their roofs damaged. An ambulance was also damaged, Kiper said, adding that no one was hurt in the attack.
Regional prosecutors said in a later statement that a 51-year-old man was hospitalised because of the attack.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had launched four missiles and 129 drones at the country since Monday evening. The air defence units downed or neutralised one missile and 114 drones, it added.
Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s maritime export routes during the four-year-old war, striking ports vital to foreign trade and the wartime economy.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Jamie Freed and Thomas Derpinghaus)
