Dockworkers Killed and Crew Injured as Russian Missile Strikes Odesa Port
Ukrainian officials are speaking out calling today’s, July 3, missile strike in the Odesa port region a deliberate attack on civilian infrastructure and part of a Russian campaign against Ukraine’s economy and agriculture. Two dockworkers were killed and six others, including two Syrian crewmembers from a cargo ship in the port were injured.
An Iskander missile hit the port area on Thursday afternoon local time. According to the report, an unidentified cargo ship registered in São Tomé and Príncipe was on dock unloading metal. A longshore worker and a truck driver were killed in the attack, and six others were injured. At least one of the injured was a driver in the port, and the two crewmembers from the ship.
Other missile strikes were reported in parts of the city. Officials posted pictures of fires in a high-rise apartment building reported to have been struck in the early morning hours.
They also reported damage to port infrastructure. They said gantry cranes, equipment, and warehouses were damaged. Pictures posted online shows damaged containers and a truck.
Containers damaged in the Port of Odesa (Andrii Sybiha on Telegram)
“Russia has been shelling our ports for the fourth year in a row. It is hitting the infrastructure that connects Ukraine with the world,” said Oleksiy Kuleba, Vice Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine, in a posting on social media. “This attack is yet another example of Russia’s deliberate attempt to destroy our transportation hubs, our export capabilities, and the lives of our civilians. Free and safe navigation must be the norm, not the exception.”
Kuleba contended in October 2024 that Russia attacked Ukraine’s port infrastructure 60 times in three months, damaging 300 port facilities, 177 vehicles, and 22 civilian vessels. He said 79 employees of ports, logistics companies, and ship crews were killed.
Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, also spoke out today, July 3, calling for an international response. He noted that they had recently toured Germany’s Foreign Minister, Johann Wadephul, through Odesa and showed him the damage in the city and port region. He asserted that Moscow has only escalated the terror and rejected all attempts to achieve a ceasefire and advance peace. He said further international pressure is needed without delay.
Ukraine Now Has a Drone Boat That Launches Bomber Drones
Ukraine's drone boats have set another operational milestone: they can now be used to launch bomber drones, the heavyweight quadcopters that Ukrainian forces use to drop mortar shells and other explosives.
In a statement, Ukraine's defense ministry said that its forces carried out a long-distance mission to destroy a Nebo-M radar system in Russian-occupied Crimea. The Nebo-M is a high-spec multiband radar that has anti-stealth and hypersonic detection capabilities, and is accompanied by one to three giant truck-mounted radar arrays. They are a priority target for Ukraine because they are capable of detecting and tracking a wide array of incoming munitions. The radar command posts are also capable of interfacing with the S-300/S-400 missile systems to provide guidance.
Overnight July 1-2, a Ukrainian drone boat approached the coast of Crimea, carrying a heavy drone bomber on deck. It launched the drone, and the boat's satellite uplink provided a comms relay for the drone pilot to stay in contact with the UAV as it flew over the coastline. The drone pilot located the target at a parking depot and destroyed three truck-mounted components - an RLM-M VHF radar, an RLM-D AESA L-band radar, and a command post truck.
This capability adds to Ukraine's fast-developing portfolio of unmanned strike drone systems. With American assistance and satellite comms technology, Ukraine developed a series of increasingly sophisticated bomb boats, then used them (along with antiship missiles) to drive the Russian Navy out of the western Black Sea. In the process, it sank or damaged about one third of the Black Sea Fleet's vessels, using swarm tactics to overwhelm the target's defenses and hit vulnerable areas.
The most mature of these systems, the Magura V5, has been adapted to perform additional roles. A missile-equipped Magura shot down at least one helicopter in the Black Sea in December, the first antiaircraft strike by an unmanned boat ever recorded in combat. In May, another Magura targeted and shot down a Russian Su-30 fighter, the first time that a fast jet had ever been shot down by an unmanned boat.
The drone wars go both ways. Russia has used its larger Orion unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) to find and destroy Ukraine's drone boats under way, before they can reach target.
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