Sunflower attack hits Ukraine

KYIV (AFP) — Russia struck sunflower oil storage in relentless strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea Odesa region that continued for a second day in a row, Kyiv and a seed oil trader said on Saturday.

A series of intensified Russian strikes wrought havoc on the coastline region in recent weeks, hitting bridges, ports and cutting electricity and heating to thousands in freezing temperatures. 

“Russia is once again trying to restrict Ukraine’s access to the sea and block our coastal regions,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said of the attacks. 

He added that he ordered the quick implementation of “temporary infrastructure solutions so that people would have all the necessary resources.”

Moscow earlier said it will expand strikes on Ukrainian ports as retaliation for targeting its sanctions-busting oil tankers.

“Ukraine’s largest vegetable oil terminal, Allseeds Black Sea, was struck by a bombardment early Saturday,” in the Pivdennyi port, Allseeds director of trade Cornelis Vrins told Agence France-Presse, adding that one employee was killed and two wounded.  

“Thousands of tons of sunflower oil” were lost in the attack, which has inflicted the biggest damage on the company since the beginning of the war, the co-founder of one of Ukraine’s top seed oil traders said.