Russians attacked  Kherson oblast

Russian attacks on southern Kherson Oblast killed at least seven people, including children, and injured 15 others, Ukrainian authorities reported on Aug. 13.

Russian shelling killed five civilians in the village of Shyroka Balka, including a family of four: a couple and their two children, a 12-year-old son, and a 23-day-old newborn, according to Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko.

The boy died in the hospital, while the rest of the victims were killed at the site of the attack.

Russian anti-aircraft missile also struck the nearby village of Stanislav, killing two men, Presidential Office Head Andriy Yermak reported.

Interior Minister Klymenko reported that 13 people were injured in the morning of Aug. 13 across Kherson Oblast in the city of Kherson, Berislav, Stanislav, Komyshany, Hihantske, Zolota Balka, and Novokairy.

Later that day, the Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported that the Russian shelling of Bilozirka injured a man and a woman on the evening of Aug. 13.

Kherson and other regional settlements on the Kyiv-controlled west bank of the Dnipro River have been consistently targeted by Russian shelling since Ukrainian forces liberated the areas in November 2022.

Russian forces were pushed to the river's east bank, where they have since been firing at the liberated territories, regularly resulting in civilian casualties.

In addition, an emergency responder died after suffering injuries from an Aug. 7 Russian missile attack on Pokrovsk, Donetsk Oblast, bringing the death toll up to 10 people, the State Emergency Service reported on Aug. 13.

The attack injured 82 people, including children, policemen, and first responders.

Russian forces struck Pokrovsk with two missiles on Aug. 7, claiming they were targeting a “command post" of Ukraine's Khortytsia Operational and Strategic Group. Ukrainian military dismissed the claim, saying that it was already the "third or fourth time" Russia is said to have destroyed this command post.

Romania plans to double the transit capacity of Ukrainian grain

Romania plans to increase the transit capacity of Ukrainian grain from 2 million metric tons to 4 million every month, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Aug. 11, the Romanian news agency Agerpres reported.

The minister's statement came after the meeting of representatives from the U.S., the EU, Moldova, Romania, and Ukraine in Galati, Romania, to address Ukrainian grain exports following Russia's unilateral termination of the grain deal.

"We agreed that the Ukrainian grain exports must be accelerated in the context of the recent attacks that we are all aware of in recent weeks on the Ukrainian ports of Reni and Izmail," Grindeanu said.

"During these meetings, we emphasized the importance of Romanian transport routes by land, rail, and sea to maintain a continuous flow for exports and imports from Ukraine," he added.

The minister said that regarding the Danube River transit, the Sulina Canal remains the only viable waterway, and optimizing its capacity is essential.

"It was a perfect meeting, fruitful, which will lead us through the measures we will take to increase the transit capacity of grains coming from Ukraine through Romania so that from over 2 million tons we currently have monthly, we will reach the target we have proposed in the next period, namely of almost 4 million tons," the minister specified.

Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17, effectively terminating the deal. The agreement, brokered in July 2022 by Turkey and the U.N., allowed Ukraine to export its agricultural products through its Black Sea ports.

Shortly after the withdrawal, Russian forces began systematically targeting Ukrainian ports and agricultural infrastructure, including Izmail and Reni ports at the Danube River lying just 200 meters from the Romanian border.

This only exacerbated fears of food insecurity worldwide as prices of grain products began to rise following the deal's collapse.

Ukraine's grain exports are vital to the world's food supply. Before the full-scale invasion, Ukraine was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally. The grain deal had allowed for nearly 33 million metric tons of food to be exported through Ukrainian ports while it was in force, according to the U.N.

The EU pledged to increase the capacity of its "solidarity lanes," facilitating the transit of more than 45 million metric tons of Ukrainian agricultural products since May 2022.

Romania's Foreign Minister Luminita-Teodora Odobescu told Bloomberg in an interview on July 27 that Bucharest plans to expand its capacity for transiting Ukrainian grain. The country has already facilitated the transport of 20 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain, almost half of the produce shipped via the EU's solidarity lanes.

Ukraine shot down 15 Shahed drones, and 8 Kalibr missiles overnight

Russia attacked Ukraine in several waves overnight on Aug. 14 using Iranian-made kamikaze drones and cruise missiles, the Air Force reported.

According to the report, Russia used a total of 15 Shahed-136/131 drones and eight Kalibr missiles, all of which were shot down.

The drones were launched from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, a town on the Azov Sea coast in Russia's Krasnodar Krai, and the missiles flew from a ship stationed near Yalta in Russian-occupied Crimea, the military wrote.

Fragments of missiles and drones fell in Odesa, causing fires in several city locations, added the Air Force. First responders are working on the spots.

According to Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper, the debris damaged an educational institute's dormitory, a residential building, and a supermarket.

Kiper said Three supermarket employees were injured in his latest update on Telegram.

The official added that the blast wave knocked out windows in several buildings and damaged cars parked nearby.

According to the Air Force, early on Aug. 14, Ukrainian troops also destroyed a Russian attack helicopter Ka-52 near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast.