Russian Drones Attack Grain Facilities in Ukraine’s Danube Region 

Grain warehouses heavily damaged by a Russian drone attack are seen at a compound of a port on the Danube, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine August 16, 2023. (Press Service of the Operational Command South of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
Grain warehouses heavily damaged by a Russian drone attack are seen at a compound of a port on the Danube, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine August 16, 2023. (Press Service of the Operational Command South of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
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Russian Drones Attack Grain Facilities in Ukraine’s Danube Region 

Grain warehouses heavily damaged by a Russian drone attack are seen at a compound of a port on the Danube, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine August 16, 2023. (Press Service of the Operational Command South of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)
Grain warehouses heavily damaged by a Russian drone attack are seen at a compound of a port on the Danube, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Odesa region, Ukraine August 16, 2023. (Press Service of the Operational Command South of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via Reuters)

Russian drones targeted Ukrainian ports in the southern Odesa and Danube river regions, setting one grain storage facility alight, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Wednesday.

The attacks overnight were the latest in series in recent weeks targeting port infrastructure on the Danube, as Moscow seeks to stop Ukraine moving grain across to the Romanian port of Constanta, having earlier quit a deal that had allowed Kyiv to ship out grain via the Black Sea.

"The enemy hit grain storage facilities and a production and transhipment complex in the Danube region. A fire broke out in the warehouses and was quickly contained. Firefighters continue to work," the Ukrainian military said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.

The military published photographs showing piles of grain under the burnt and wrecked shell of the storage facility.

Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said the attack on the region lasted for three hours and the Ukrainian air force had destroyed nine Russian drones.

"Unfortunately, there were hits to the production and transhipment complexes where a fire broke out... The damage includes grain storage facilities," Kiper said on Telegram.

Ukraine's Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia pulled out of a UN-backed deal to provide safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea in July.

The ports have since become the main route out, with grain also sent on barges to Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.

Global grain prices rose earlier this month, when Russia attacked Izmail - Ukraine's main inland port across the Danube River from Romania, and the port of Reni.



US Embassy Issues Security Alert in Thailand after Uyghurs' Deportation to China

Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shows a picture on his mobile phone of Uyghur refugees upon their arrival at a airport in China,  during a press conference on the deportation of Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand to China, at the Justice Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, 27 February 2025. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shows a picture on his mobile phone of Uyghur refugees upon their arrival at a airport in China, during a press conference on the deportation of Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand to China, at the Justice Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, 27 February 2025. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
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US Embassy Issues Security Alert in Thailand after Uyghurs' Deportation to China

Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shows a picture on his mobile phone of Uyghur refugees upon their arrival at a airport in China,  during a press conference on the deportation of Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand to China, at the Justice Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, 27 February 2025. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK
Thai Defense Minister Phumtham Wechayachai shows a picture on his mobile phone of Uyghur refugees upon their arrival at a airport in China, during a press conference on the deportation of Uyghur refugees detained in Thailand to China, at the Justice Ministry in Bangkok, Thailand, 27 February 2025. EPA/NARONG SANGNAK

The United States embassy in Bangkok on Friday issued a security alert for its citizens in Thailand, a day after the secretive deportation of 40 Uyghurs to China that has drawn international condemnation.
"Similar deportations have prompted violent retaliatory attacks in the past," a security alert posted on the embassy website said.
Diplomats and security analysts say Thailand's widely-condemned deportation of 100 Uyghurs to China in July 2015 led to a deadly bombing a month later at a Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people in what was the worst attack of its kind on Thai soil.
Thai authorities at the time concluded the attack was linked to their crackdown on a human trafficking ring, without specifically linking the group to the Uyghurs. Two ethnic Uyghur men were arrested in connection with the incident and their trial is proceeding, despite repeated delays.
The Japanese embassy in Thailand also sent an email warning its citizens in the wake of Thursday's deportation, the mission told Reuters.
"This is not a change in risk assessment about Thailand," it said in an email.
The Thai foreign ministry did not immediately comment on the security alert and email warning.
Thailand is a major regional tourist destination that received 35.5 million visitors last year, with its economy heavily dependent on the sector. Thailand also draws millions of visitors from China every year. Held in Thailand for a decade, 40 Uyghurs were sent back to China in a pre-dawn operation on Thursday, defying calls from United Nations human rights experts who said they would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm" if returned.
China has rejected allegations of abuse against the Uyghurs and on Friday described those as groundless lies.