KYIV—Ukraine claimed Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight, but a container ship left the Black Sea port of Odesa on Aug. 16 despite Moscow’s threat to target shipping after it abandoned an export deal.
The Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, trapped in the port since the war started on Feb. 24, 2022, departed from Odesa.
Overnight air strikes damaged silos and warehouses at Reni on the Danube River, a vital wartime route for food exports, Ukrainian officials claimed. They posted photos of destroyed storage facilities and piles of scattered grain and sunflowers.
There was no comment from Moscow.
Russia has made regular air strikes on Ukrainian ports since mid-July, when it pulled out of the U.N.-backed deal for Ukraine to export grain.
Moscow has threatened to treat any ships leaving Ukraine as potential military targets and on Aug. 13, its navy fired warning shots at a ship traveling toward Ukraine.
Despite the threats, Ukraine last week announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports, pledging to make clear they were serving no military purpose.
“A first vessel used the temporary corridor for merchant ships to/from the ports of Big Odesa,” Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook.
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which owns the ship jointly with a Chinese bank, confirmed that the ship was en route to Istanbul.
Mr. Kubrakov said it was carrying more than 30,000 metric tons of cargo in 2,114 containers, adding that the corridor would primarily be used to evacuate ships from the Black Sea ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdennyi.
Moscow hasn’t indicated whether it would respect the shipping corridor.
Neither Mr. Kubrakov nor the shipping company specified the cargo on board the Joseph Schulte but grain is rarely carried in containers.
On the battlefield, extensive Russian fortifications and minefields along the front line have made it hard for Ukrainian forces to break through in their Western-backed counteroffensive that began in early June, but they announced they had retaken another village on Aug. 16, the first settlement they have declared recaptured since June 27.
“Urozhaine liberated,” Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram. “Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts.”
Ukrainian soldiers raised the country’s flag above a broken war memorial in video footage released by the military and geolocated by Reuters to the village. It wasn’t clear when it was filmed.
Russia’s defense ministry didn’t confirm losing the settlement but said its artillery and warplanes were attacking Ukrainian forces in the Urozhaine area.
Inside Russia, the FSB security service said it had foiled an attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs to cross the border into the Bryansk region for a second day in a row.
Danube Ports
Ukraine turned to its Danube River ports after Russia pulled out of the international deal that had allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea, seeking better terms for exports of its own food and fertilizer.The river ports, which had accounted for around a quarter of grain exports, have since become the main route out for Ukrainian grain, which is also sent on barges to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onward.
Earlier this month, Russia attacked Izmail—Ukraine’s main inland port across the Danube River from Romania.
Turkey, which brokered the grain deal alongside the United Nations, has expressed hope that Russia will rejoin it this month.
