Russian drones hit industrial sites on the Danube overnight from Saturday to Sunday in the southwestern region of Ukraine bordering Romania, a NATO member country, which denounced an “unjustified” attack. “.

Since the suspension in July of the agreement which allowed Ukraine to export its cereals via the Black Sea, Russia has increased its bombardments in this part of Ukrainian territory where there are ports and other infrastructures essential for this trade.

“The enemy has attacked civil industrial infrastructure in the Danube region,” the office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced. “The attack left two injured, who were hospitalized,” he added.

However, according to the prosecutor, Ukrainian forces managed to shoot down 22 of the 25 drones involved.

The Russian army, for its part, said it had carried out a raid using these unmanned vehicles against the port of Reni, located in the Odessa region.

“Last night, the Russian Air Force carried out a group strike with drones on fuel depots used to refuel military equipment of the Ukrainian army in the port of Reni,” the Russian Defense Ministry said, assuring that the intended objective had been “reached” and all targets hit.

Romania and Moldova have spoken out against this new attack which occurred in the immediate vicinity of their borders with Ukraine.

In a statement, the Romanian Ministry of Defense “reaffirmed in the strongest terms that these attacks against civilian targets and infrastructure in Ukraine were unjustified and in profound contradiction with the rules of international humanitarian law”.

“At no time” did the Russian attacks “generate direct military threats to the national territory or the territorial waters of Romania”, he nevertheless specified, knowing that if a member country of NATO was targeted, this could cause the conflict to escalate.

Moldova, which does not belong to the Atlantic Alliance, for its part denounced a “brutal” Russian operation.

“Russia must be held responsible for every piece of infrastructure destroyed,” said Moldovan President Maia Sandu, who fervently wants her country to join the European Union.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that he had discussed with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron the “means of ensuring the functioning” of the corridor established by Kiev in the Black Sea in order to ensure the safety of navigation after the withdrawal of Moscow from the agreement on grain exports and to “strengthen the security of the Odessa region”.

This telephone conversation came on the eve of a summit in Russia between Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish head of state, who wants to relaunch the grain agreement.

Mr. Erdogan must indeed meet the Russian president Monday in Sochi, a seaside resort located in the south-west of Russia, on the Black Sea.

This week, Ukraine said four more cargo ships had used its sea lane, set up on a provisional basis last month.

In charge of the counter-offensive in southern Ukraine, General Oleksandr Tarnavskiy assured that the Ukrainian army had made a major breakthrough there.

“We are now between the Russian first and second lines of defence,” he said in an interview published this weekend by the British daily The Guardian.

A few days earlier, kyiv had claimed a symbolic victory with the recapture of the village of Robotyne, in the southern part of Ukraine.

“We are now in the process of destroying the enemy units responsible for protecting the Russian troops when they retreat behind their second line of defense,” said General Tarnavskiy, whose soldiers liberated the city of Kherson last year. , also in the south.

Returning to the skepticism surrounding the Kiev counter-offensive, some of which denounce the slowness, this officer explained that the Ukrainian army had been delayed because it had “spent more time than expected clearing the territories” occupied by the Russians.

However, he was confident for the future. “The enemy is drawing on its reserves, not only in Ukraine but also in Russia. Sooner or later, the Russians will run out of their best soldiers. This will give us an opportunity to attack them more and faster,” he said. he adds. “It’s all to come”.

09/03/2023 17:20:50 – Kiev (Ukraine) (AFP) © 2023 AFP