Ukrainian air defenses were activated early Tuesday in the southern Odesa region, a key part of a grain deal that expired Monday evening, local officials said.

“Odessa. Air defense combat operations continue », the spokesman for the military administration of the Odessa region, Sergey Bratchuk, said in a telegram. According to the Ukrainian operational command in the south of the country, “Enemy Attacks Southern Regions with Unmanned Aerial Vehicles”he said in a telegram.

The target is southern Ukraine “Drone Strikes”The regional governor, Ole Kiper, on the same social network, called on people to stay in shelters until the flight alert is lifted.

Early Tuesday morning air warnings were issued in Odesa, Mykolaiv (south), Kherson (south), Zaporizhia (south), Donetsk (south-east), Kharkiv (east), Dnipropetrovsk (Dnipropetrovsk). Center-East), Poltava (East), Kirovohrad (Center) and Cherkasy (Center).

The historic center of Odessa, inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in Danger in January, has been bombed several times since the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022.

After Moscow’s invasion began, Ukrainian Black Sea ports were blockaded by Russian warships until an agreement signed in July 2022 under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey allowed for essential grain exports. Three ports in the Odessa region are part of a crucial global food deal that expired Monday night.