Ukraine announces shooting down 23 drones and acknowledges the strength of Russian fortifications

 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of pushing the situation towards a "global catastrophe" after its repeated bombing of grain export ports, at a time when a Ukrainian official spoke of the strength of Russian fortifications that prevent the rapid advancement of his country's forces in the east and south.

At the same time, the Ukrainian General Staff announced the downing of 23 drones that attacked Ukrainian territory during the past 24 hours.

In his daily address on social media on Wednesday evening, Zelensky said that Russian attacks on port infrastructure show that Moscow is bent on causing a crisis in food and supply markets.

"Russians are once again targeting ports, grain facilities, and global food security... and the world must respond to that," the Ukrainian president said.

Zelensky's speech came hours after the Ukrainian authorities announced that "Port Ishmael" on the Danube River had been bombed by Russian drones, which damaged the infrastructure used to export grain, and destroyed thousands of tons of grain destined for export.

With the Black Sea effectively closed after Russia withdrew from the grain deal two weeks ago, Port Izmail has become the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products through neighboring Romania.

The attack comes a few days after Russian drones bombed grain depots in Reni, located on the Danube River, next to Romanian territory.

Before that, Russian attacks targeted grain export ports in Odesa province, southern Ukraine, and Kyiv confirmed that these attacks destroyed tens of thousands of tons of grain.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian army announced that it had shot down air targets early Thursday after warning residents of Kyiv of drone attacks.

And the sounds of Ukrainian anti-aircraft missiles were heard while they were attacking air targets in Kyiv.

The state of alert in the Ukrainian capital and other regions in the east of the country lasted about 3 hours before it was lifted at dawn.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Russian forces launched 37 Iranian-made Shahed drones on Wednesday, pointing out that some of them were shot down.

Zelensky called for strengthening Ukraine's military capabilities, asking once again his country's allies to provide it with "F-16" aircraft.

In field developments, Ukrainian officials confirmed yesterday, Wednesday, that the Russian forces have not made any progress on the front lines, but they are well fortified in areas under their control that are full of mines, which moves Ukrainian forces to the east and south difficult.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine Oleksiy Danilov said that Russia had plenty of time over the past months to set up strong fortifications and minefields.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine said that no one can dictate to his country the deadlines, and added that there is no specific schedule regarding the operations carried out by the Ukrainian forces, which he described as complex, difficult, and dependent on many factors.

Since it launched a counterattack on the fourth of last June, Ukrainian forces have regained a few hundred kilometers in Donetsk provinces (east) and Zaporizhia (southeast), but they are facing fierce resistance and Russian counterattacks.

In the same context, Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Anna Malyar said that the Russian forces could not prevent the Ukrainian army from advancing around the city of Bakhmut, Donetsk.

For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense said that its forces repelled 12 Ukrainian attacks in Donetsk province and destroyed a Ukrainian drone boat that tried to target a Russian warship that was escorting a civilian ship in the Black Sea.

Source: Agencies