ODESA: Russian drones damaged port infrastructure in Odesa and targeted capital Kyiv from several directions, Ukrainian authorities said Wednesday.
The army said it repelled Iraninan-made Shahed-136 drones launched from the Sea of Azov through the Black Sea that were aimed at the Odesa region.
“The enemy’s obvious target was the port and industrial infrastructure of the region. Air defense forces worked non-stop for almost 3 hours,” the Operational Command South wrote on Telegram.
The strike damaged port infrastructure, regional governor Oleg Kiper said, adding that there were no reports of casualties.
“As a result of the attack, fires broke out at the facilities of the port and industrial infrastructure of the region, and an elevator was damaged,” he said.
Russia has been pounding Odesa, a centuries-old city on the shores of the Black Sea and one of Ukraine’s main ports, since Moscow withdrew from a grain deal last month that allowed Kyiv’s exports despite the war.
The landmark deal had allowed the shipment of around 33 million tons of grain to leave Ukrainian ports.
Formerly obscure ports, Izmail and Reni, have become crucial to global food supplies and are struggling to process all the grain, causing a massive bottleneck.
The Danube River port of Izmail is now the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products. But these ports have also become targets: Russia attacked Reni with drones on July 24.
Last week, Kyiv said it lacks the means to defend itself against strikes on its grain infrastructure carried out by Russia, which is blocking “virtually all” Ukrainian ports, according to an army spokeswoman.
In Kyiv, more than 10 Russian drones were downed during an overnight attack on the capital, the city’s military administration said early on Wednesday.
“Groups of drones entered Kyiv simultaneously from several directions. However, all air targets — more than 10 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)- were detected and destroyed in time by the forces and means of air defense,” said Sergiy Popko, head of the administration.
He said Russia had used a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed drones, with debris hitting several areas.
In Golosiivsky district, “parts of a drone fell on the playground” and a fire broke out in a non-residential building, he said, adding that emergency services were on the scene.
Kyiv’s mayor had said earlier that the attack on the capital had damaged multiple districts, including the busy Solomyansky, which hosts an international airport.
Mayor Vitali Klitschko said no one was killed or wounded in the attack.
The administration had issued an alert for drone attacks and warned residents to stay in shelters.
The attacks come a day after Russia said it downed a wave of Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, Crimea and vessels in the Black Sea. A skyscraper in Moscow’s financial district was struck for the second time in days.
On Monday, Russia said it would intensify its strikes on Ukrainian military infrastructure in response to drone attacks across its territory which it has blamed on Kyiv.
Last week, Russia launched a nighttime drone attack on Kyiv, with all incoming drones shot down.
Russian drones attack Odesa region port facilities, Ukraine capital
https://arab.news/vx5mn
Russian drones attack Odesa region port facilities, Ukraine capital
- The strike damaged port infrastructure
- No one was killed or wounded in the attack
Venezuela’s acting president calls for oil industry reforms to attract more foreign investment
- In her speech, Rodríguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects
CARACAS, Venezuela: Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodriguez used her first state of the union address on Thursday to promote oil industry reforms that would attract foreign investment, an objective aggressively pushed by the Trump administration since it toppled the country’s longtime leader less than two weeks ago.
Rodríguez, who has been under pressure from the US to fall in line with its vision for the oil-rich nation, said sales of Venezuelan oil would go to bolster crisis-stricken health services, economic development and other infrastructure projects.
While she sharply criticized the Trump administration and said there was a “stain on our relations,” the former vice president also outlined a distinct vision for the future between the two historic adversaries, straying from her predecessors, who have long railed against American intervention in Venezuela.
“Let us not be afraid of diplomacy” with the US, said Rodriguez, who must now navigate competing pressures from the Trump administration and a government loyal to former President Nicolás Maduro.
The speech, which was broadcast on a delay in Venezuela, came one day after Rodríguez said her government would continue releasing prisoners detained under Maduro in what she described as “a new political moment” since his ouster.
Trump on Thursday met at the White House with Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, whose political party is widely considered to have won 2024 elections rejected by Maduro. But in endorsing Rodríguez, who served as Maduro’s vice president since 2018, Trump has sidelined Machado.
In her speech, Rodríguez said money earned from foreign oil sales would go into two funds: one dedicated to social services for workers and the public health care system, and another to economic development and infrastructure projects.
Hospitals and other health care facilities across the country have long suffered. Patients are asked to provide practically all supplies needed for their care, from syringes to surgical screws. Economic turmoil, among other factors, has pushed millions of Venezuelans to migrate from the South American nation in recent years.
In moving forward, the acting president must walk a tightrope, balancing pressures from both Washington and top Venezuelan officials who hold sway over Venezuela’s security forces and strongly oppose the US Her recent public speeches reflect those tensions — vacillating from conciliatory calls for cooperation with the US, to defiant rants echoing the anti-imperialist rhetoric of her toppled predecessor.
American authorities have long railed against a government they describe as a “dictatorship,” while Venezuela’s government has built a powerful populist ethos sharply opposed to US meddling in its affairs.
For the foreseeable future, Rodríguez’s government has been effectively relieved of having to hold elections. That’s because when Venezuela’s high court granted Rodríguez presidential powers on an acting basis, it cited a provision of the constitution that allows the vice president to take over for a renewable period of 90 days.
Trump enlisted Rodríguez to help secure US control over Venezuela’s oil sales despite sanctioning her for human rights violations during his first term. To ensure she does his bidding, Trump threatened Rodríguez earlier this month with a “situation probably worse than Maduro.”
Maduro, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail, has pleaded not guilty to drug-trafficking charges.
Before Rodríguez’s speech on Thursday, a group of government supporters was allowed into the presidential palace, where they chanted for Maduro, who the government insists remains the country’s president. “Maduro, resist, the people are rising,” they shouted.
