Russia Is Bombing Ukraine’s Danube Grain Port While the River Itself Is Running at Record Low Water Levels Too

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Tu-22M3 Bomber Russian Air Force

Russian strikes pummel infrastructure in Ukraine’s key port region overnight into Monday.

The Izmail district in the southern Odesa region is home to Ukraine’s biggest port on the Danube Delta, connecting war-torn Ukraine to its western neighbors.

Tu-22M Backfire Bomber from Russia

Tu-22M Backfire Bomber from Russia. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

Tu-22M3 Russian Bomber

Tu-22M3 Russian Bomber. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

A civilian Togo-flagged vessel sustained damage, and four people were injured in the attack, Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper announced.

Given the current interruptions to usual Black Sea traffic as a result of the war, the Danube port is essential to Kyiv’s export revenue.

Civilian Ship Damaged

According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, it also hit military targets, including a berthing terminal for military cargo, naval drone depots and hangars of Western-supplied weaponry.

19FortyFive cannot independently verify these claims.

This attack comes just days after Russia’s August 13 strike on the same port’s infrastructure, which prompted power outages in parts of the city.

Izmail has long been Ukraine’s largest grain-export port on the Danube.

Trade Under Fire

This disruption comes amid Ukraine’s peak wheat harvest.

Ukraine is expected to harvest around 60 million metric tons of grain this year, close to its 2025 crop.

But farmers need export revenue now to finance next year’s sowing, not to mention the lack of storage given how much grain is simply not getting shipped out of the country.

Reuters reported last week that Ukrainian grain exports had fallen by around 76% year-on-year in August.

Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi warns that global food prices could increase by 25% to 30% if the issue is not resolved.

A new wave of Russian attacks on ports and civilian shipping has plunged Ukraine’s Black Sea exports into free-fall.

The issue is that any alternative routes have many drawbacks.

Record heatwaves and droughts in Europe over the summer mean the Danube is currently experiencing record-low water levels.

Just last week the river’s levels were so historically low that the bodies of two World War Two German soldiers were discovered in the Budapest section of its course.

The port’s importance has waxed and waned since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Following Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s key Black Sea ports in 2022, the Danube ports were among the country’s only remaining maritime gateways.

After Ukrainian attacks weakened Russia’s Black Sea Fleet and Kyiv established its own Black Sea shipping corridor, the Danube’s importance was relatively diminished until now.

Kyiv is also exploring other options.

Reuters said on August 10 that Ukraine and neutral Moldova had been negotiating higher grain shipments by rail via Moldova to Constanța on Romania’s Black Sea coast.

The hypothetical route could handle some 4.5 million metric tons of grain annually — around  10 percent of Ukraine’s grain exports.

Romanian Airspace Under Threat?

This awkward, vulnerable geography means keeping existing supply lines functioning is vital.

Izmail is directly across the Danube River from NATO member Romania, with parts of the waterway forming the international border.

Last week, Romania was forced to scramble a pair of fighter jets during another Russian bombardment of Izmail after an aerial target entered its airspace.

Separately, a Spanish F-18 on NATO’s air-policing mission shot down a drone on Sunday after it entered Romanian airspace from Moldova. NATO said the drone appeared to be Russian.

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s shipping and port infrastructure are making it much more difficult and pricier for Kyiv to export its goods.

Ukraine is also hitting back, with its drone strikes having forced the majority of Russia’s Black Sea fleet to relocate from occupied Crimea to Novorossiysk.

Hundreds of Ukrainian drones were launched against Russian targets over the weekend.

A massive fire erupted at a Wildberries distribution center close to  Moscow, while Ukraine also alleged a successful strike on a Rostov missile-fuel production facility.

Ukraine Wants More U.S. Interceptors

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy told CNN last week that Ukraine would require just 10 percent of the U.S. Patriot interceptor stockpile to eliminate the threat of Russia’s ballistic missile attacks.

He said 5 percent would permit Kyiv to defend itself this winter.

The Ukrainian leader did not reveal details about Washington’s current approach to the issue, although he said he had made “millions” of phone calls to discuss the potential of acquiring more U.S.-built systems.

About the Author: Georgia Gilholy

Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.

 

IN the summer of 2019, I was seated in the wine cellar of a walled Medieval town high above the Dordogne Valley of France, not far from Sarlat-la-Canéda, making phone calls, writing reports. I have given this story in other places and it appears as though you’re about to hear it again. Rob Skiba is a name you that you might be familiar with. Though he had made a name for himself as a Nephilim researcher, more recently Rob had taken a dive into the deep end of the pool via flat earth research. The recorded interviews I conducted between he and Rick Hummer, a fellow flat earth investigator and close friend of his, was published while still occupying that very wine cellar. Read all about it. Chicago Is Not a Mirage.

Word quickly spread. Within a few short weeks, dozens of flat earth researchers began accepting my invite for a private interview, if not a series of interviews. From a 17th-century tower built by King Louis XIV, and with a stunning view of the Alps, I sat down with Robbie Davidson, founder of the Flat Earth International Conferences, conducting multiple sessions. While staying in Dumfries, Scotland, David Weiss agreed to take part in the interviews, as did Bob Knodel of Globebusters. There were others. But when I asked the interviewees to discuss the moments that shaped their lives, among the many PSYOPs, false flag attacks, and hoaxes that were discussed, only these men committed commentary to the false 9/11 narrative.

The resulting recordings ballooned into The Unexpected Cosmology, a book which became a website and was even intended as an anthology. And of course, the following discourse was originally a chapter. It was Walt Disney who stated, “Disneyland will never be completed. It will continue to grow as long as there is imagination left in the world.” Those sentiments remain applicable here as well. American Sensationalism: The 9/11 Interviews was always intended to be expanded upon with the inclusion of new researchers. So I’m sorry to say the project became stagnant during the Covid-19 psychodrama. I took a break to tackle other projects. We lost Rob Skiba. Rob offered hours of private conversation regarding his life but we never got around to the big one. 9/11. It was in the cards. Sadly, Bob Knodel died soon afterwards. Voices are being squeezed from an entire generation. Gnosis passes with them.

In the aftermath, the FE community became fractured. People began going their separate ways. Robbie Davidson, among a noted few others who were interviewed for the project, got up and left the movement altogether. It is not my intent to erase his or the contributions of others if only brief. They came, they went, their testimonies remain.

The original vision may have hit roadblocks but it is not forgotten. I expanded this paper a few years later to include testimony from author Pauly Hart, a dear friend of mine. I had wanted to continue that trend every year thereafter but you know how it goes. For the 25th anniversary of the attack I have redirected my efforts to its first large scale expansion, including Andrew Hoy and Darrin Geisinger into the mix. Perhaps others will lend their experiences to the recorder in time.

The following is their report.

Read the 9/11 Interviews

Watch the Interviews