ODESA, Ukraine, July 15 (Reuters) - Russia and Ukraine stepped up their battle over the Black Sea and key trade routes on Wednesday, with Moscow killing three people in an attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa and Kyiv's drone forces striking Russian shipping.
Odesa region Governor Oleh Kiper said that a "massive" Russian drone and missile attack on the southern region continued for a fifth day, with civilian, industrial and port infrastructure coming under attack.
Three people were killed and
at least three more injured after a Russian missile strike on a seven-storey residential building in Odesa, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia in recent days has stepped up attacks on Ukraine's deepwater Black Sea ports in the Greater Odesa area, which handle much of the country's grain and other cargo and are vital to its wartime economy. While Ukraine has expanded its campaign to disrupt logistics for Russia's forces in areas Moscow occupies in southern Ukraine and to isolate Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian drones hit 20 Russian vessels in the Black Sea overnight, Kyiv's top drone forces commander said on Wednesday.
"Now Black Sea," Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's Unmanned Systems Forces said on Telegram, adding that 116 vessels have been struck in the Sea of Azov this month.
STRIKES DISRUPT SEA OF AZOV SHIPPING
The Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia, the world's top grain exporter, to restrict shipping in the Sea of Azov — a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters. Shipping remained restricted on Tuesday, they said.
Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday that Moscow's forces continued overnight strikes on Ukrainian ports it said were handling cargoes for the Ukrainian military.
It said a number of targets in the ports of Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk port had been hit, as well as four vessels it said were delivering cargoes for Ukraine's forces in the ports of Chornomorsk and Dnipro-Buh.
Kiper said on Tuesday that two people were killed in an evening drone attack on port infrastructure in the region. A civilian vessel under a Marshall Islands flag had been damaged in the attack, he said.
Ukraine's top grain exporter Kernel halted operations at Chornomorsk port after Russian attacks, while another Russian strike damaged its vegetable oil terminal in the Odesa region, it said late on Tuesday.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the attacks on shipping in the Sea of Azov as "terrorism" while Russia's agriculture ministry acknowledged that exports may get diverted to other routes.
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
