In the southern Odesa region, the Ukrainian air force claimed to have shot down 22 Russian drones on Sunday.
“On the night of September 3, 2023, the Russian occupiers launched several waves of attacks by ‘Shahed-136/131’ UAVs from the south and southeast,” Ukraine’s Air Force wrote on Telegram, adding that 22 drones had been destroyed.
The Danube river port of Izmail has become a main export route for Ukrainian products via Romania following Russia’s withdrawal in July from a UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal that had aimed to ensure safe grain shipments from Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military said Russia had used Iranian-made Shahed attack drones in the “massive” overnight attack, which “was directed at the civil infrastructure of the area of the Danube”.
The strikes come a day after Ukraine fought off a barrage of Russian drones in the Odesa region.
Russia’s army said Sunday it had targeted fuel storage facilities in the port town of Reni, which also lies on the Danube river that separates Ukraine from Romania.
Monday’s attack comes hours before a summit in Russia between President Vladimir Putin and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who hopes to revive the grain deal.
