A massive Ukrainian strike using drones and missiles damaged two major grain export terminals at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk, and hit what officials said was the last large Russian naval base in the area, according to reports.

The overnight attack killed three people, including an eight-year-old child, and injured 24 others, local officials said. Several explosions were heard across the city as air defences intercepted incoming drones and other aerial targets.

Drone and missile attack

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv carried out a “unique operation” to strike the Russian base, using rockets, jet and naval drones. He did not mention grain terminals being affected in his comments.

Ukraine’s military later said four Russian warships, including two frigates, were damaged in the strike. Russia had not commented on the reports.

Zelensky said the Russian fleet and the infrastructure that supports it would not be safe while “Russian aggression continues”.

The strike came after most of Russia’s Black Sea fleet had moved to Novorossiysk following the loss of its former home base in Sevastopol, in occupied Crimea, where it had faced sustained Ukrainian attacks.

Warships and grain shipments

The damage to grain infrastructure was confirmed by companies that handle exports from the port. A major grain trading company told Russia’s TASS news agency that its terminal had been hit. Another firm said the same to Reuters and the Russian outlet RBK.

Russia’s agriculture ministry said on Wednesday that it was working to redirect cargo flows to ports in the Baltic and Caspian Seas, as well as via land routes, without referring to Ukraine’s attacks. It said it was “taking into account current logistical constraints”.

Russian officials also reported disruption on the ground in Novorossiysk. An emergency situation was declared after drones hit areas around the port and damaged pipelines, suspending the city’s water supply.

In the wider Krasnodar region, Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said a man was killed by drone debris. He said several locations were struck overnight by “several hundred drones”, with dozens of buildings damaged, including homes.

Russia’s counterstrikes and global food concerns

The attack on Novorossiysk followed increased exchanges of strikes in the Black Sea in recent months after a relatively calmer period.

Moscow also carried out overnight strikes on Ukraine, killing at least 11 civilians between Tuesday and Wednesday. Most of the deaths were reported in Zaporizhzhia, after Russia hit the southern city with ballistic missiles and glide bombs.

Ukrainian officials have pointed to the need for air defences ahead of the winter. In an interview with CNN, Zelensky said Ukraine needs about a tenth of the current US stockpile of interceptor missiles to stop all Russian ballistic missile attacks. He added that 5% of that stockpile would be enough to get Ukraine through winter. Zelensky said Ukraine had “two and a half times less interceptors” than in 2025, and that Russia was using twice as many ballistic missiles per month as before.

The fighting has renewed concerns about how the war may affect global grain supplies. Russia and Ukraine account for a substantial share of global grain trade, particularly for buyers in North Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Russia is the world’s biggest wheat exporter.

A Moscow-based analytics company said exports for August could fall by more than half compared with the same month over the previous five years, citing disruptions to shipping in the Black and Azov seas.

Ukrainian officials say their long-range strikes have also disrupted Russian grain shipments, including recent attacks on vessels in the eastern Black Sea. Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of striking Russian grain and agricultural infrastructure, adding that this had contributed to higher global food prices and growing grain shortages. She said Russia would continue targeting “facilities that [Ukraine’s armed forces] use on the Black Sea” until what she described as security threats projected to the Sea of Azov and Black Sea were eliminated.

Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022, the impact on food flows has remained a key concern. The 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative—under which Russia agreed to lift its blockade of Ukraine’s agricultural exports—ended after Moscow resumed attacks on vessels using maritime corridors to Odesa the following year.

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13 August 2026