Ukraine downs 15 of 25 Russian drones targeting Odesa, infrastructure hit

Ukrainian air defences shot down 15 out of 25 Russian drones launched in an overnight attack on the southern Odesa region, but an infrastructure facility was hit, the military and regional officials said on Monday.

The military said in a statement that 10 Shahed drones were downed in the skies over the Black Sea port of Odesa.

“Another massive nighttime drone attack by the Russians in the Odesa region. Combat work lasted for one hour and a half,” said Oleh Kiper, the Odesa regional governor.

“Air defence units repelled many waves of Shaheds coming from the Black Sea via complex manoeuvres and between residential buildings and industrial districts, that made air defence work more difficult.”

Kiper said that an infrastructure facility, an administrative building, and some commercial buildings were damaged. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The southern Odesa region has come under six Russian drone attacks so far this month.

Russia has intensified bombardments of Ukrainian ports, including Odesa, and grain infrastructure after Moscow last summer pulled out of a U.N.-brokered deal that allowed some food exports to flow, despite the war, now in its third year.

Ukraine is a major agricultural producer and exporter and Kyiv has since set up an alternative corridor to ship its products via its Black Sea ports near Odesa.

Ukrainian officials have said that exports of different cargo – including grains and metal – from Ukrainian Black Sea ports reached nearly pre-invasion levels last month.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Sunday that the Russian military had launched 175 drones on different targets in Ukraine since the start of March. Ukraine downed 151 of them, he said.