TOP HEADLINES

•Russian drones attacked port and grain storage facilities in the south of Ukraine in the early hours of Wednesday, setting some of them on fire, regional governor Oleh Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app. READ MORE BELOW

• Türkiye President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call that he would continue to engage in diplomacy to reinstate the Black Sea grain initiative, Erdogan's office said. The Kremlin's press service noted that Russia was set to interact with Türkiye and other interested countries in considering options of its grain supplies to needy countries.

• The Kremlin restated its position on the Black Sea grain deal, saying it was ready to return to it "immediately" once the part that concerns Russia was implemented.

• A large number of prisoners held in makeshift detention centers in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine were tortured and sexually violated, a team of international experts said on Wednesday in a summary of their latest findings.

• Explosions jolted the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early on Wednesday and Ukrainian anti-aircraft units were in action against attack drones, Mayor Vitali Klitschko and military officials said.

IN DEPTH

Russia attacks Ukrainian port on the Danube

Russian drones damaged infrastructure at a Ukrainian port on the Danube, as Moscow targeted strikes against facilities vital for grain shipments, the Ukrainian general prosecutor's office said in a statement.

Kyiv was also targeted with drones from several directions in the latest wave of attacks overnight, leaving several floors of a glass high-rise damaged.

A grain elevator, silos and warehouses were damaged or destroyed, it said. The prosecutor's office in the district of Izmail, where a key Danube river port is located, had opened a probe into the strike, the statement added.

Meanwhile the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasised that Russia was working on reliable options for the supply of Russian grain on a free-of-charge basis to those countries most in need. This issue was substantially discussed at the second Russia–Africa Summit held recently in St Petersburg last week. 

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There were no reports of casualties following the strike despite a blaze breaking out at port facilities, Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said. Russia has been pounding the port city of Odesa and the surrounding region since Moscow withdrew from a grain deal last month that allowed Ukraine to continue exports via the Black Sea despite the war.

The deal had allowed around 33 million tonnes of grain to leave Ukrainian ports, easing fears of food shortages in vulnerable countries.

With the Black Sea route effectively blocked, the port at Izmail is now the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products via neighboring Romania.

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