Two large agricultural terminals bombed in Mykolaiv
Two grain storage terminals were hit by Russian shelling on Wednesday in the port city of Mykolaiv, their operators, the Bunge and Viterra trading houses, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The Evri port terminal, owned by Viterra and dedicated to vegetable oils, was “damaged by missile attack”, which caused a minor injury, said a spokesman for the group, adding that two silos were on fire and a third was damaged. This site, bought in 2020 by Glencore, parent company of Viterra, has a storage capacity of 160,000 tonnes.
As for Bunge, its facilities have been “affected in the latest Russian attacks in the region”, said a spokeswoman, adding that the strike did not cause any injuries and that the exact extent of the damage was not yet known. The terminal, which had been closed since the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, includes a storage site, ship loading and a vegetable oil production unit.
The ports of Mykolaiv and Odessa have been blocked since the beginning of the conflict, which has paralyzed the maritime transport of agricultural raw materials, the main export route for Ukraine until then. Discussions, without concrete results to date, have taken place between Russia and Turkey on the opening of maritime corridors which would allow bulk carriers to circulate from Ukraine in the Black Sea, an area made impracticable by the presence of mines.