Two individuals were hospitalized after a prolonged drone barrage by Russian forces on a port in Ukraine’s Odesa region. The attack occurred just one day before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s scheduled meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss the resumption of food shipments from Ukraine under the Black Sea grain agreement, which Moscow terminated in July. The Ukrainian air force reported that Russian forces fired 25 Iranian-made Shahed drones along the Danube River, of which 22 were successfully intercepted by air defenses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, labeled the assault as a part of Russia’s agenda to instigate a global food crisis and hunger. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that the attack targeted fuel storage facilities used to supply military equipment. The meeting between Putin and Erdogan is set to take place in Sochi, Russia, where they are expected to discuss the revival of the Black Sea grain initiative. This initiative, previously agreed upon by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022, permitted the safe export of approximately 33 million metric tons of grain and other commodities from three Ukrainian ports despite the ongoing conflict. However, Russia backed out of the agreement, citing unfulfilled promises related to the removal of obstacles to its own food and fertilizer exports. Russia complained about shipping and insurance restrictions that supposedly hampered its agricultural trade, despite its record-breaking wheat shipments since the previous year. The Sochi summit follows recent discussions between the Russian and Turkish foreign ministers, during which Russia presented a list of demands for the West to fulfill in order to resume Ukraine’s Black Sea exports. Erdogan has expressed support for Putin’s position, emphasizing that Western countries need to take action regarding the Black Sea deal. In separate incidents in Ukraine, two individuals were killed, and two others were injured due to Russian shelling on the village of Vuhledar in the Donetsk area. Artillery fire also targeted various settlements across the region. Additionally, Ukrainian prosecutors announced the initiation of a war crimes investigation into the death of a police officer caused by Russian shelling in the town of Seredyna-Buda. This attack resulted in injuries to two other police officers and one civilian in Ukraine’s Sumy region.
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