Russia bombs Ukraine's Danube port as global grain prices jump

On Wednesday, Russia assaulted Ukraine’s biggest inland port, which is located across the Danube River from Romania. As it increases its use of force to reimpose a blockade, food prices globally increased.

According to the Ukrainian military ministry, a grain silo in the Odessa region’s Izmail Danube port was damaged: The ministry stated on messaging platform X that Ukrainian grain “has the potential to feed millions of people throughout the world.”

Since Russia resumed its de facto embargo on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in the middle of July, the port, which is across the river from NATO member Romania, has served as the primary alternate route for grain exports out of the country.

Firefighters were seen on ladders tackling a massive fire several storeys above in a structure covered in smashed windows in a video released by the Ukrainian authorities. Other substantial structures were in ruins, and at least two destroyed silos had grain spilling out of them.

Oleh Kiper, the governor of the Odesa region, posted on the Telegram messaging app that no injuries had been reported.

“Unfortunately, there are damages,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Telegram. “The most significant ones are in the south of the country. Russian terrorists have once again attacked ports, grain, global food security.”

Izmail was the main target of the attack, according to a source in the business, who also described the extent of damage there as “serious.”

Following the attack on Wednesday, Chicago wheat prices increased by 4%, and later in the morning they were still up by roughly 2.5% as traders once again concerned about the impact on global supply of forcing Ukraine, one of the leading exporters, off the market.

Since refusing to prolong a deal that had removed its wartime blockade of Ukrainian ports last year, Russia has been aggressively attacking the country’s agricultural and port infrastructure for more than two weeks.

According to the Kremlin, President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who sponsored the grain export agreement, chatted on the phone.

Putin reaffirmed Russia’s demand that a parallel agreement be reached that would improve the terms for its own food and fertiliser exports before Russia would rejoin the grain deal. These exports are already immune from sanctions, which the West claims Moscow is attempting to thwart by exerting pressure on the world’s food supply.

As response for a Ukrainian attack on a bridge to Crimea that was being used to supply its forces in southern Ukraine, Moscow has claimed that its recent attacks.

(With agency inputs)