Escalating Russian airstrikes aim to cut Ukraine off from sea, Zelensky says
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Firefighters work at the site of a warehouse of home appliances which was hit during an overnight Russian drone strike in Odesa, Ukraine on Dec 16.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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KYIV - Russia is trying to sever Ukraine's access to the Black Sea, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Dec 20, following days of ramped-up airstrikes on ports and energy facilities in the Odesa region and a critical route to the Moldova border.
Russia has unleashed an almost continuous drone and missile campaign
Strikes have escalated even as the US pursues an uphill diplomatic drive to coax a deal to end the war. Ukraine held talks with the US team on Dec 19, and American negotiators were set to meet Russian officials in Florida on Dec 20.
"The situation in the Odesa region is harsh due to Russian strikes on port infrastructure and logistics. Russia is once again trying to restrict Ukraine's access to the sea and block our coastal regions," Mr Zelensky told reporters in Kyiv.
Russia's aim is "to sow chaos, to exert moral pressure during winter... so that there is no fuel, no food supplies, so that there are problems with medical supplies," he said.
Russia's attack on Pivdennyi port on Dec 20 hit reservoirs, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on the Telegram messaging app, a day after a missile strike on the port killed eight people and injured at least 30.
Geneva-based vegetable oil producer Allseeds said three tanks storing sunflower oil at the site were set ablaze in Pivdennyi, and one of its workers was killed and two injured.
Russia's Defence Ministry was not available for immediate comment. The Kremlin has said Ukraine's economic infrastructure is a legitimate military target in the almost four-year-old full-out war.
Focus on Odesa
Since Dec 18, Russian forces have hit a bridge on the Dniester River near the village of Mayaky, south-west of Pivdennyi, at least five times, Mr Kuleba told reporters.
The bridge, which connects parts of the region divided by the river and sea inlets, is the main transport route westward to border crossings with Moldova, and is not operational now.
The route accounts for around 40 per cent of fuel supplies to Ukraine, Mr Kuleba said.
Ukrainian authorities have set up a pontoon bridge and re-routed logistics through other regions, securing civilian and freight logistics.
"The focus of the war may have shifted towards Odessa," Mr Kuleba said, adding that the "crazy" attacks could escalate even further as Russia tries to undermine Ukraine's economy.
Last week, one of the war's biggest Russian air attacks on the Black Sea region damaged energy facilities and prompted a blackout
City trams stand in depot during a power blackout after critical civil infrastructure was hit by recent Russian missile and drone strikes in Odesa, Ukraine, on Dec 17.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Airstrikes on ports also damaged three Turkish-flagged vessels in December.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to cut Ukraine's access to the Black Sea in retaliation for Kyiv's recent drone strikes on Moscow's sanctions-busting "shadow-fleet" tankers.
Ukraine says those vessels are used to transport oil, Russia's main revenue source for funding its almost four-year-old full-scale invasion of its neighbour. REUTERS
