Russians hit Odesa port with ballistic missile, injuring staff and damaging foreign vessel Levante F

A Russian ballistic missile hit port infrastructure and a Panama-flagged civilian vessel in Odesa on the evening of March 1, 2025.

Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa Oblast Military Administration and Dumska, an Odesa-based local news outlet reported that two port employees were injured.

“The enemy fired a ballistic missile on Odesa… The attack damaged port infrastructure and a civilian vessel under the flag of the Republic of Panama owned by a European company. Two men, employees of the port, were injured,” Kipper wrote.

Local authorities reported that all the relevant services are dealing with the aftermath, and doctors are assisting the injured. 

Dumska reported that the Levante F, a container ship owned by the Swiss company MSC and registered under the Republic of Panama’s flag, was damaged in a Russian ballistic attack with an Iskander-M missile on port infrastructure. The vessel had arrived in Odesa’s harbour early on March 1.

Earlier, Vitaliy Koval, the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, told Ukrinform that approximately 60% of Ukraine’s export revenue is provided by farmers and agricultural processors, and Ukrainian food supports 400 million people worldwide.

He said that farmers in Kharkiv, Mykolaiv, and other regions, who frequently endure enemy shelling, are producing vast amounts of crops and playing a crucial role in ensuring international food security.

On January 16, 2024, the United Kingdom reported that it had developed a database to track and prevent grain theft from Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions. It announced a plan to deliver the database to Ukraine in the coming weeks.

The announcement emphasises that Ukraine, a key supplier of agricultural products, plays a vital role in global food security.

The government of the United Kingdom explained that the database was created “using cutting-edge science to help determine where grain has been grown and harvested.”

Read also: Africa faces vulnerabilities from Russia’s war on Ukraine

This initiative came after Ukraine appealed to the G7 countries for help in tracking stolen grain from Ukrainian fields under Russian control, which is then rebranded and sold to third countries.

By way of background, the Russian Armed Forces shell the Odesa Oblast regularly. 

One of the missile attacks occurred on the afternoon of November 18, 2024, in which Russians killed at least ten civilians in Odesa.

Odesa Mayor Hennadii Trukhanov stated that the enemy treacherously directed a missile at a residential area and a commercial zone, resulting in civilian casualties.

Later updates indicated that the death toll had risen, with reports confirming fatalities and injuries among doctors, police officers, and civilians. A total of 39 people, including four children aged 7, 10, and two aged 11, sustained injuries. The children were taken to hospital in a moderate condition, and 30 adults were hospitalized, three of them in critical condition.

Another attack occurred on the evening of November 14, 2024, damaging a residential building and a main heating pipeline. As a result of the attack, one woman was killed and two people were injured.

Hennadii Trukhanov, Odesa Mayor, the Dumska news agency and Oleh Kiper reported that Russians attacked the city using drones launched from the Black Sea.

The Odesa Oblast Prosecutor’s Office found that Russians launched a large-scale UAV attack on Odesa and its outskirts on the night of November 8-9, killing one person and injuring 13 others.

High-rise buildings in two residential complexes, houses, warehouses belonging to a private company and cars were damaged in that attack. It was mentioned that at least 10 cars were destroyed completely.