Ukraine Strikes Grain Terminals at Russia’s Key Black Sea Port

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(Bloomberg) — Three grain terminals in Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk were damaged in a massive overnight drone attack, as Ukraine escalated strikes on key maritime infrastructure.

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A loading gallery at United Grain Co.’s Novorossiysk Grain Plant, crashed to the ground after the strikes, people familiar with the matter said. The gallery and truck unloading facility at Novorossiysk Grain Terminal, owned by Demetra, was also damaged, the people said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information. The KSK grain terminal was also hit, the people said.

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Russia and Ukraine have stepped up attacks on each other’s commercial ships and ports in the Black Sea, raising concerns about supplies and sending wheat prices to a two-year high in July. The two nations account for more than a quarter of global wheat exports, and the attacks come as farmers are in the middle of this year’s harvest.

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Representatives of KSK and Demetra-owned NZT declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News. United Grain Co.’s NKHP didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Satellite images from NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System showed heat anomalies — likely indicating fires — in Novorossiysk, home to major oil and grain terminals and a naval base. Local officials said Novorossiysk and the whole of the surrounding Krasnodar region were targeted by several hundred Ukrainian drones overnight.

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Ukraine’s missiles and drones targeted the naval base in Novorossiysk, the last major stronghold of the Russian Black Sea fleet, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Hits on Russian air defense positions, piers, and seaport infrastructure have been confirmed, he said.

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“The occupation fleet and all the infrastructure supporting it will not be safe as long as Russian aggression continues,” Zelenskyy said. “The war must be stopped, and all reasonable proposals for diplomacy are on the table.”

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The NASA data point to blazes in the vicinity of a grain terminal and a naval base adjacent to Transneft PJSC’s Sheskharis oil terminal. The apparent absence of fire at the oil terminal may be a result of limited geolocational accuracy.

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State-run oil-pipeline operator Transneft, the Novorossiysk port administration didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside normal business hours. Ukrainian military officials have not yet commented on the attack.

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Ukraine has been targeting Russian energy assets — from refineries and export terminals to tankers and oil-pipeline infrastructure — in a bid to curb Moscow’s ability to process and sell crude and fuels and force President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.

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Earlier this year, Ukrainian strikes on Novorossiysk temporarily halted loadings at the Sheskharis oil terminal and disrupted operations at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal nearby. Novorossiysk oil loadings averaged just over 821,000 barrels a day last month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

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