Ukraine reports drone strike on Danube port infrastructure

Russia has unleashed a drone attack on Ukraine's Danube port infrastructure, causing damage to the vital export route in the Odesa region in the south.

Odesa region governor Oleh Kiper said that port infrastructure and residential buildings were damaged in the overnight attack in the Izmail district, home to Ukraine's Danube ports.

Fires caused by the attack had been put out, Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that a woman had been sent to hospital with burns.

Russia has stepped up attacks on port infrastructure since mid-July, when it quit a UN-brokered deal that allowed safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments via the Black Sea.

Reuters could not independently verify the information. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Ukraine's air force said that 28 out 33 drones launched by Russia were shot down, adding that air defence systems were in operation in at least six Ukrainian regions.

Ukraine's operational command "South" said earlier that 10 drones were shot down over the Odesa region, where a storage facility had been damaged, and four over the neighbouring Mykolaiv region.

In an attempt to bypass air defence systems, the drones flew from different directions, using complex trajectories and terrain features, it said.

Separately, a man aged 70 was killed in overnight Russian shelling of a village in the Kherson region, also in the south, its governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said.

Russia has carried out regular air strikes on cities and towns across Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022. It has denied targeting civilians.