Since late autumn 2025, Russia has significantly intensified strikes on ports in Ukraine’s Odesa region, commercial vessels, and related infrastructure. Container terminals, grain elevators, oil-processing assets, railway hubs, and bridges have all come under attack. According to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration, there were 36 attacks in 2024, rising to 96 in 2025. Since the start of the full-scale war, 651 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged, including 325 in 2025 alone.
Mikhail Gonchar, president of the Strategy XXI Center for Global Studies, says the attacks are aimed at destroying Ukraine’s logistics capacity: reduced maritime exports hurt sales of agricultural and metallurgical products, cut foreign-currency revenue, and make it harder to finance the state budget.
The wave of strikes continued through late 2025 and early 2026. On December 12, ports in Odesa region were hit: in Chornomorsk, a Turkish-flagged ferry and a container handler were damaged, and an employee of a private company was injured. On December 19, another strike on port infrastructure killed eight people. On December 30, drones attacked ports as well as the Panama-flagged cargo ships Emmakris III and Captain Karam, which had arrived to load wheat; vegetable oil storage tanks caught fire. Facilities belonging to Allseeds at Pivdennyi port and a Kernel plant in Chornomorsk were damaged.
The attacks continued in January. On January 1, 2026, the quay of Odesa seaport and the Izmail port were struck. On January 7 and 8, facilities in Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi were again targeted, including oil storage tanks. On January 9, two merchant vessels were hit: one, flying the Comoros flag, was carrying soy near Odesa port, and a Syrian crew member was killed; the other, under the flag of Saint Kitts and Nevis, was heading to Chornomorsk to load grain. On January 12, vessels near Odesa region were attacked again. Ukraine’s Ministry for Development says it has recorded at least about 20 attacks on civilian ships since autumn 2025.
Experts say that unmanned naval craft and upgraded Shahed drones capable of targeting moving vessels have become an additional threat. Because of this, ports now close their waters at night, and even a 10 to 15 minute delay in a ship’s departure is treated as a major risk. Serhiy Vovk, head of the Center for Transport Strategies, says the strikes have taken on a systemic character: ports, ships, the regional power system, and railway junctions are being hit at the same time, targeting the entire export and import chain.
The agricultural sector has been hit hardest. According to the Ukrainian Agribusiness Club, in December 2025 exports of grain, oilseeds, and processed products through Odesa region ports totaled 3.6 million tons, down 8% from the previous month. In 2025, those ports handled 39.8 million tons of agricultural goods, or 87% of such exports. The association Ukroliyaprom says oil and meal account for more than 15% of Ukraine’s foreign-currency earnings and about 20% of its merchandise exports.
Economists warn that further attacks are raising insurance and logistics costs, reducing export capacity, and could put pressure on the hryvnia. At the same time, if large volumes of grain and sunflower oil are redirected to the domestic market, internal prices could fall by more than 40%, as happened in 2022. There is still no real substitute for maritime ports: Danube routes are also under threat, while land corridors have limited capacity and make Ukrainian exports less competitive.