MOSCOW/KYIV, July 16 (Reuters) - Ukraine and Russia launched missile and drone attacks on Thursday on vessels in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, stepping up hostilities in a zone vital for grain exports that have triggered a rise in global wheat prices.
Ukraine's military said it struck six Russian tankers and two tugboats, while Russia's defence ministry said its forces hit a maritime vessel and a speedboat of the Ukrainian armed forces while they were en route to ports in the Odesa region.
Russian
forces also struck a number of other military and industrial targets, the ministry said.
Ukraine has stepped up wider attacks on Russian energy targets, including oil refineries and tankers, seeking to undermine Moscow's war effort.
Russia also has intensified strikes 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.
The Ukrainian attacks have forced Russia, the world's top grain exporter, to limit shipping in the Sea of Azov — a route that handles about a quarter of its grain exports, sources told Reuters. Shipping remained restricted on Thursday, they said.
"Navigation both to and from the sea is not being carried out for now," a source said.
Two of Ukraine's three Black Sea ports were operating normally on Thursday morning while the port of Chornomorsk had sharply reduced its grain intake, the Ukrainian state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said.
It said 901,300 metric tons of grain had been sent toward the ports since the start of July, "which is, of course, less than last month".
Ukrainian officials said Russian ballistic missiles struck at least two districts in Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, early on Thursday, triggering fires and killing two people.
Authorities in at least three Russian regions also reported deaths and injuries inflicted by Ukrainian drone and rocket strikes overnight.
WHEAT PRICES RALLY
On Wednesday, European wheat prices jumped 7% as the escalating attacks in the Black Sea raised concerns over key grain export routes, with traders expecting some demand to shift to European Union supplies.
Benchmark September milling wheat on Paris-based Euronext ended the daytime trading session 7% higher at €231.75 ($265) per metric ton, a price not seen since February 2025.
Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures surged 5% on Wednesday, though they pared their gains in early Thursday morning trade. The most active wheat contract on the CBOT was down 0.3% at $6.75-3/4 a bushel, as of 0325 GMT.
Ukraine has lost about a third of its capacity to export grain via its Black Sea ports due to the intensifying Russian missile and drone attacks, the country's main farmers' union said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha called for restoration of the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
"This is also a fundamental issue for Ukraine. It is vital, as the Black Sea is the main route for the export of Ukrainian goods," he told reporters.
(Reporting by ReutersEditing by Gareth Jones)
