Zelenskiy accuses Russia of targeting world food security as Odesa port suffers heavy strikes

Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of lethal attacks on Sunday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying Moscow deliberately targeted global food security by striking the seaport at Odesa.

Three people died and 37 sustained injuries in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv after a multi storey apartment block took a direct hit. Across the border, authorities in Russia’s Belgorod region reported that a Ukrainian drone attack killed five people and wounded 25 others.

Odesa seaport takes major damage

Zelenskiy said a strike had damaged Odesa’s seaport, a critical hub for Ukraine’s agricultural exports. Local authorities reported that dozens of drones and missiles struck the southern seaside city, wounding a dozen people in the process.

“In this way, the Russians are at war with the world’s food security,” Zelenskiy said, framing the attack as part of a broader effort by Moscow to disrupt global grain supplies that flow through Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

The Ukrainian president said Russia also struck nine other regions across the country on Sunday, extending the assault well beyond Odesa alone.

Russia has spent months bombarding Odesa in a sustained campaign aimed at cutting Ukraine off from the Black Sea and choking its export routes. Ihor, a 67 year old Odesa resident whose apartment narrowly avoided destruction in the latest strikes, said residents have grown accustomed to the danger. “Everyone who lives in Odesa knows that the most common target is around the port area,” he said.

Ukraine strikes Russian oil tankers in response

As Ukraine works to choke off the revenue Russia relies on to fund its war effort, Kyiv’s forces have repeatedly targeted Russian oil tankers and other cargo vessels moving through the Black Sea. Ukrainian forces claimed three additional strikes on such vessels on Sunday alone.

Both countries have widened their campaigns against each other’s logistics networks in recent months. E-commerce warehouses on both sides of the border and Ukrainian petrol stations have come under sustained attack throughout the summer.

Ukraine’s state energy company Naftogaz reported a significant rise in attacks on its facilities over the past three days, including strikes on oil extraction sites overnight. Ukraine’s energy ministry said Russian forces also struck power facilities in the Odesa region, cutting electricity to a substantial share of the port city’s residents overnight. Power had already been restored to 90,000 consumers by Sunday, the ministry said.

Russia’s Defence Ministry confirmed striking fuel storage facilities in the ports of Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk, saying the sites were being used to support the Ukrainian military.

Pope Leo renews call for peace

At the Vatican, Pope Leo used his Sunday address to renew calls for an end to the war, now in its fourth and a half year. Speaking before worshippers gathered for the Angelus prayer, the pontiff said tragic incidents are multiplying across the conflict, leading to a growing number of civilian casualties, including children.

The renewed papal appeal comes as both Russia and Ukraine show little sign of scaling back their attacks, with strikes on energy infrastructure, ports and logistics networks continuing to intensify on both sides as the war grinds into its fifth year without a resolution in sight.