Russian Forces Intensify Strikes on Ukrainian Ports and Military Logistics, Official Says
Russian forces have escalated attacks on Ukrainian ports, vessels, and logistics centers that Moscow says are used to supply the Ukrainian military, according to statements from Russia's Defense Ministry and Kremlin officials reported by TASS.
In a July 22 report, the Defense Ministry said that Russian ground- and air-launched precision-guided weapons and attack drones struck port infrastructure facilities in Odessa used to unload and store military cargo, as well as a dry cargo ship at the Chernomorsk port that was unloading supplies intended for the Ukrainian armed forces. The strikes also hit logistics hub infrastructure, fuel and lubricant tanks, and a dry cargo ship and bulk carrier carrying supplies for the Ukrainian army to the port of Odessa, the ministry reported.
Additionally, Russian strike drones hit three warehouses with unmanned aerial vehicles intended for the Ukrainian army in Odessa and the settlement of Molodezhnoye, about 10 kilometers southwest of Odessa, according to the ministry.
Earlier strikes, reported on July 12–13, targeted a ferry at the Chernomorsk Port, a seiner re-equipped for launching uncrewed boats, a patrol boat, and a dry cargo ship, according to the Defense Ministry. Those strikes also hit port infrastructure used for unloading and storing military cargoes, fuel and lubricants storage tanks, loading racks, a fuel pumping station, an ammunition and missile armament warehouse, a container transport control center, two ro-ro sea ferries, a container ship, a specialized vessel, and a floating dock for autonomous unmanned submersible vehicles, the ministry said.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on July 21 that Russia will continue to strike vessels carrying military supplies for the Ukrainian regime. He was responding to a question about a Russian missile strike on a vessel at the Odessa port that, according to New Delhi, killed four Indian citizens. “We are keeping in contact with our Indian partners, explaining our position. And most importantly, our armed forces are striking and will continue to strike those vessels that are involved in deliveries of ammunition, weapons, and so on, for the Kiev regime’s purposes,” Peskov said.
Russian lawmaker Leonid Ivlev, a retired major general and deputy of the State Duma, said in comments reported on July 16 that the Russian military has “expanded the range of targets to be engaged, regularly carrying out massive strikes at them.” He added that there are no civilian targets among them, and that the strikes are targeting logistics chains supplying weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces, military warehouses, and defense industry enterprises, in response to what he called the Kiev regime’s terrorist attacks on Russian regions.
Ivlev also accused Western countries of prolonging the conflict by continuing to provide military assistance to Ukraine. “The attacks will continue as long as Zelensky’s team, consisting of ‘Mindichs’ (Timur Mindich is a Ukrainian businessman), together with their NATO patrons, is making money off the blood of Ukrainian soldiers. They don’t care about the tears of Ukrainian mothers, the civil protest emerging in Ukraine, caring only about lining their own pockets,” he said.
These reports come from Russian official sources and have not been independently verified.