Ukraine's top grain exporter Kernel Holding said on Monday it had halted operations at Chornomorsk port due to a series of Russian attacks as Moscow intensifies pressure on key Ukrainian trade routes.
Russian missile and drone attacks between Friday and Sunday, described by Kernel as some of the largest wartime strikes, damaged grain, sunflower oil and meal storage and transshipment infrastructure, the company said.
Kernel, a major Ukrainian grains and oilseed producer, said the timing for restoring operations was uncertain.
Russia has repeatedly targeted maritime export routes during the more than four years since its invasion of Ukraine, striking ports vital to foreign trade and the wartime economy. The Black Sea deep-water port of Chornomorsk has been a frequent target.
A Russian drone attack on a Togolese-flagged civilian merchant vessel killed five crew and injured 10 on Monday, Oleh Kiper, the governor of Ukraine's Odessa region, said.
The vessel, carrying mineral fertilisers, was moored at one of the ports in the Odessa district at the time of the attack, Kiper said on social media. Ukraine's seaports authority said that port infrastructure was also damaged in Monday's attack.
Russia's defence ministry said on Monday its forces had hit infrastructure at Chornomorsk port, which it said was being used to handle military cargo for Ukraine's military.
It said targets had included port infrastructure used for unloading military cargo, fuel storage tanks and an ammunition warehouse, adding that two ferries and a container ship delivering military cargo had also been struck.
In a regulatory filing, Kernel said the combined missile and drone strikes on the nights of July 10 to 12 were among the most severe on its port assets in recent years.
The company added that the strikes compounded damage from previous attacks in May and June. No casualties were reported.
Ukraine's seaports authority said on Saturday that Russia hit port infrastructure in the Odessa region for a second day in a row. It said that two truck drivers were killed in Russian attacks on one of the ports, which it did not name.
In recent weeks, Ukraine has intensified its campaign to disrupt Russian logistics in the occupied southern Ukraine, including isolating the Crimean peninsula.
Ukrainian drones hit 15 Russian vessels in the Sea of Azov overnight, bringing the total number of vessels struck in the past eight days to 105, Ukraine's drone forces commander said on Monday.
Last week, Russia temporarily stopped shipping in the Sea of Azov, the route for a quarter of Russia's grain exports, according to industry sources. The shipping remained restricted on Monday.
(Reporting by Alicja Surdy and Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Peter Graff and Susan Fenton)
