Russian forces have struck three ships in the southern Ukrainian port of Nikolaev and a fourth near Odessa, operating "in the interests of the Ukrainian army", the Russian Defense Ministry said, quoted by Reuters, BTA reported.
At the port of Chernomorsk in the Odessa region, Russian forces hit a container terminal and a warehouse storing drones and their components, the ministry added.
Meanwhile, Russian logistics company FESCO (Far-Eastern Shipping Company) said it was suspending new deliveries via the Black Sea after a Ukrainian drone attack on its vessel.
Russian Nuclear Corporation "Rosatom", which owns FESCO, earlier reported that the "Ioannina" ship was hit by Ukrainian naval drones and sank in the Black Sea overnight on Friday.
Grain exports from Ukraine via alternative routes will reach the required volume by the end of August at the earliest, Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotsky told Reuters on Friday. However, he warned that these corridors will be able to handle only half of the volumes processed by Ukrainian Black Sea ports, whose operations have been disrupted due to Russian attacks, BTA reported.
Russia has stepped up air strikes against foreign-flagged civilian ships in the southern port center of Odessa, through which most of Ukraine's grain exports pass.
The situation threatens about half of the projected exports of grain and oilseed crops this year, Vysotsky said.
“A significant part of the production – to be exact, a little more than 30 million tons – will not be exported to international markets unless this problem is resolved“, the agriculture minister said.
In July, Ukraine recorded 35 attacks on ships in ports and 22 on ships at sea, as well as 67 strikes on port infrastructure, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Reconstruction, Infrastructure and Transport. For comparison, 14 attacks on ships were recorded in all of 2025.
As a result, shipowners have suspended sailings to ports around Odessa, where no ships have docked for almost two weeks. Against this backdrop, Ukraine's summer harvest season is entering its peak.
Moscow claims it is striking military targets. Russia, the world's largest wheat exporter, has also reported attacks in recent weeks on Russian agricultural export facilities and merchant ships in the Black Sea.
Ukrainian producers are already feeling the effects, as prices for oilseeds and grains have fallen by an average of 30 percent, according to Vysotsky.