Russia kills seven in latest attack on Odesa port

Russian missiles have hit a civilian container ship at a port in Ukraine’s Odesa region, killing seven people, according to local officials.

“This is the third attack on a civilian vessel in the past four days,” said the region’s governor, Oleh Kiper.

He said Russia had targeted port infrastructure and all the victims were Ukrainian. Several others were wounded, and a port employee died of his injuries in hospital on Thursday, Kiper added.

The latest strike on one of Ukraine’s ports on the Black Sea coast coincided with a European tour by President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is visiting leaders in London, Paris and Rome.

He has met UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street before he holds talks with Nato’s new secretary general, Mark Rutte, who warned this week that Ukraine could be facing its toughest winter since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.

Zelensky had been due to meet US President Joe Biden along with other Western allies in Berlin on Saturday, but Biden cancelled his trip because of the threat to the US from Hurricane Milton.

Russia’s overnight attacks on Ukraine also left several people wounded in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian drones targeted a military airfield in the Maikop region of southern Russia. Local officials evacuated 40 people from a nearby village.

Russia’s missile strike on the Odesa region hit a Panamanian-registered ship on Wednesday night, Oleh Kiper said – two days after a Palau-flagged ship was attacked, leaving one dead on board.

Another ship, which was said to be carrying 6,000 tonnes of corn, was attacked on Sunday.

The Ukrainian government says Russia’s attacks on Odesa’s Black Sea ports are aimed at trying to destroy grain exports that guarantee international food security.

According to Ukrainian figures, more than 20 civilian ships have now been damaged in Russian attacks since the start of the war in 2022. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, has appealed to “responsible states” to ensure freedom of navigation and food security.

Grain silos and other port infrastructure have been badly damaged too. Last week, the port of Izmail was targeted by drones near the River Danube and a Romanian border crossing and grain facility were damaged.

Russia has not commented publicly on the recent attacks.

However, Ukraine has succeeded in creating a maritime corridor to ensure the safety of grain exports, after Moscow pulled out of a Black Sea grain deal last year.

Some 962,000 tonnes of grain have been exported so far this month, says the agriculture ministry in Kyiv – double the volume shipped in the same period last year.