Russia says air strikes on Ukrainian ports were retaliation for Crimean Bridge attack

Russia on Tuesday (July 18) took responsibility for the pre-dawn air attacks on Ukrainian port cities overnight, describing it as “a mass revenge strike” in response to the attack on the Crimean bridge that happened on Monday.

Russia's Defence Ministry said that it struck Odesa, where the Ukrainian navy has its headquarters, and Mykolaiv, near Ukraine's Black Sea coast. It is through the Black Sea port that Ukraine exports essential grains to the rest of the world until the deal with Russia fell off on Monday.

Tuesday’s attack comes a day after Russia refused to extend the Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine.

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"The armed forces of the Russian Federation carried out a mass retaliatory strike overnight using precision sea-based weapons against facilities where terrorist acts against the Russian Federation were being prepared using uncrewed boats," the ministry said in a statement.

It further said that air attacks also targeted a ship repair plant near Odesa where such boats —believed to be naval drones of the kind Russia claims were used to attack the Crimean Bridge —were being built.

"In addition, storage facilities holding around 70,000 tonnes of fuel used to supply the Ukrainian military's equipment were destroyed" near the cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa, it said.

It said all the targets had been struck and destroyed, citing fires and detonations as evidence.

Russia targets key Ukraine Black Sea Port of Odessa

Ukraine downed 6 missiles and 25 drones

Earlier in the day, Ukrainian forces said they shot down scores of exploding drones and six cruise missiles.

The Russians first sought to wear down Ukraine’s air defences with the drones and then targeted Odesa with six Kalibr cruise missiles, the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command said.

Officials said that all six missiles and 25 drones were shot down by air defences in the Odesa region and other areas in the south.

“Caliber-winged missiles and the vast majority of kamikaze drones were destroyed in the south – in Odesa and Mykolaiv regions. The rest of the impact BPLA was affected in Donetsk, Kharkiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions,” Ukraine’s air force said in a statement.

Putin sought apt response

In Monday’s attack on the Kerch Bridge—the bridge that connects occupied Crimea to the Russian mainland—a Russian couple was killed and their 14-year-old daughter wounded.

Vladimir Putin condemned the attack and deemed Ukraine’s actions as a “terror attack”.

Though Kyiv has officially not claimed responsibility for the attack, Ukrainian media quoting Ukrainian security services reported that they used naval drones to attack the bridge, which had only recently returned to full operation after suffering severe damage in a similar attack last October.

Disclaimer: A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While WION takes utmost care to accurately report this developing news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.

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