Russia launches 20 drones overnight, strikes Odesa grain storage

Russia launched an overnight drone attack on Odesa Oblast and damaged a grain storage facility on the Danube, Governor Oleh Kiper said on Aug. 23.

No casualties were reported but a grain warehouse has partially burned down, according to the governor.

The Ukrainian Air Force said that Russia launched 20 Shahed attack drones at Ukraine overnight on Aug. 23.

Eleven of the drones were destroyed, nine of which were downed over Odesa Oblast. The other two were downed over Zaporizhzhia Oblast, according to the Air Force.

Russia has targeted Ukrainian ports at least eight times since since Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain initiative on July 17.

Multiple European countries with access to river and sea ports have offered to help Ukraine in the wake of repeated Russian attacks that aim to crush Ukrainian export capabilities.  

Zelensky said on Aug. 22 that he discussed alternative export routes with the prime ministers of Bulgaria and Croatia and the president of Moldova at the Ukraine-Balkan summit in Athens.

Zelensky also thanked European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Athens for "her efforts to normalize Ukraine’s agricultural exports and transit."

Ukraine wants to use new Black Sea corridor to export grain

After a successful evacuation of a vessel along a new corridor on the western Black Sea coast, Ukraine is hoping to use the corridor to export grain, Denys Marchuk, deputy head of the Agrarian Council, said on national television, Reuters reported on Aug. 21.

The Kyiv IndependentAlexander Query