Russia fired two missiles and damaged a strategic bridge in Ukraine’s Odessa region, the state railway officials announced on Wednesday, an event that could affect Ukraine’s plans to expand exports across Danube ports.
The bridge connects the mainland of Ukraine with the part of the Odessa region not far from the Danube gorge.
The bridge over the gorge of the Dnieper is part of the only railway route that is completely under the control of Ukraine to the Ukrainian ports on the Danube, which Kiev considered a promising route for export in a situation when Black Sea ports are blocked.
Ukraine, a large agricultural producer, exported most of its goods through seaports, but since the Russian invasion in February, it has been forced to export by train across its western border or through its small Danube ports.
The first attack was on Tuesday night, and the missile hit the bridge over the estuary, but according to local officials, it could be quickly rebuilt.
The second blow was on Wednesday morning, and the condition of the bridge has not been announced yet.
The state railways Ukrzaliznica declined to comment.
“The railway branch has suffered, of course. The effect is minus 150 or more wagons / containers of metal and grain per day,” Roman Rusakov, a spokesman for Ukraine’s agriculture ministry, told Reuters.
He said that the share of grain cargo in the total deliveries of Izmail is not so high and that “there will be no significant changes”.
Railway data showed that about 1,000 wagons with various cargoes from mid-April, including 238 wagons with grain, were at Izmail station, Ukraine’s main Danube port.
Ukrainian agriculture and transport officials said the country is working to increase the export capacity of Danube river ports, which allow grain to be transported across the Danube to Romania’s Black Sea ports.
European Union member Romania borders Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia and Ukraine on the Black Sea.
Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta said this week that Ukraine has sent about 80,000 tons of grain to the port so far, and more are expected to arrive.
The port, which has a storage capacity of about two million tons, exported about 24 million tons last year.
Ukrainian traders say that in the absence of a direct railway route, grain deliveries can be made on already actively used roads.
Grain can also be delivered from the north by the already existing route through Moldova.
There was another railway route to Izmail, which passed through the territory of the breakaway region of Moldova, Transnistria, but at the beginning of March, the key bridge of the route was also blown up.
Ukraine on Tuesday accused Moscow of trying to drag Transnistria into its war against Kiev after authorities in the Moscow-backed region said they were the target of a series of attacks.
VOA