Russia's Black Sea Strike Campaign: A Devastating Blow to Ukraine's Economy

Russian attacks on Ukraine's Black Sea ports are escalating, causing widespread damage to infrastructure and disrupting grain exports. Svitlana Halchenko, a warehouse shift manager at Odesa's main port, remembers the day her colleagues were killed by a Russian ballistic missile.

'My crane operator, my partner, died five metres from me,' she recalled, adding that 'the driver remained in the cabin. He also died.'

The attacks have intensified in recent weeks, with 57 strikes on civilian vessels and 67 hits on port infrastructure in July alone, according to Ukraine's port administration.