Extreme weather puts Russia's Odesa invasion on hold

Heavy seas allow port vital to Ukraine's economy to build strong defences, including 30km of mines

On Sobachyy beach, Oleksandr Hotovcev, 34, carries sandbags to bolster city defences in Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

Extreme March weather conditions have prevented Russia from mounting a major sea landing operation on the vital port of Odesa.

Heavy seas and unusually cold weather have stopped landing craft operations, allowing the Ukrainians enough time to defend the coast including laying 30 kilometres of mines, one of the city’s leading figures said.

The port, which before the war accounted for 70 per cent of Ukraine’s exports, is suffering daily bombardments from Russian warships stationed in neutral waters in the Black Sea, said Hanna Shelest, speaking from the city.

Odesa has a geopolitical significance because much of its grain is shipped to the Middle East, North Africa and China, with struggling economies such as Lebanon receiving 50 per cent of its grain from Ukraine.

Ukrainian service members patrol in front of the National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in downtown Odesa, Ukraine. Reuters

But the port is running low on ammunition and in urgent need of missiles, particularly for air defence against daily Russian warplane and missile strikes.

But, the population is delighted that the poor weather has prevented Russian marines from landing.

“We are joking that this is the first year Odesa locals are really happy because of the bad weather in March,” Ms Shelest told the Chatham House think tank. “It is minus seven and that's something extreme for us as it should be clear and sunny, but this year we are happy because it makes operations via maritime assaults much harder because of the high waves and the difficult conditions for the boats.”

Russia has an estimated six Ropucha class amphibious landing ships each capable of carrying 10 main battle tanks and 340 marines. But it appears the troops have spent the past three weeks battened down in heavy seas.

Seizing Ukraine’s southern coast is vital to Moscow’s plans as it seeks to link mainland Russia to annexed Crimea via territory along the Sea of Azov.

Much of the territory has been taken except for the key port city of Mariupol, which on Wednesday suffered Russian shelling of a theatre sheltering 1,000 civilians.

A sandbag barricade in Odesa. AFP

Moscow’s generals are determined to take the city no matter what cost to the population, partly in revenge for the Ukrainians expelling them after a two-month occupation in 2014.

“All these years they've been dreaming about the route from the Russian Federation to Crimea, but you need to remember that in 2014 Mariupol was under Russian occupation for few months, until Ukrainian armed forces managed to kick them out,” said Ms Shelest, of Foreign Policy Council, Ukrainian Prism. “The Russians did not forget this, definitely. The severe damage that they are bringing now to the town … is because they cannot excuse that Mariupol didn't want to be with the so-called [separatist] Donetsk People's Republic.”

She said that Kherson, currently the only city to fall to Russia, was still not under control despite a week of occupation with locals “coming on to the streets with Ukrainian flags and clearly demonstrating”.

The Russian Navy's Ropucha-class landing ship 'Kaliningrad' arrives at the Black Sea port of Sevastopol, Crimea, in February this year. Reuters

She said the strength of civil resistance was “the biggest underestimation” the Russians had made but that there were still fears of saboteurs trying to infiltrate the city.

While Russia had taken the North Crimea Canal, key to getting water into the peninsula from mainland Ukraine, their invasion had caused such infrastructural destruction that they were unable to get water flowing.

It was also claimed that Odesa’s air defences had shot down two Russian warplanes, but that they needed more missiles to defend the city.

“After three weeks of constant air strikes we are lacking ammunition and we may lack it very soon,” Ms Shelest said.

A woman cries near a building damaged by shelling in Kyiv as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. EPA

A satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows the damage from a Russian strike on Lviv's international airport. AP

Destroyed cars hit by shelling in Kyiv. EPA

A woman stands in her home after her building was damaged by shelling in Kyiv. EPA

A pedestrian looks at a cloud of smoke rising after an explosion in Lviv. AP

General view of a street behind a barricade in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa. EPA

The UN Security Council meets on threats to international peace and security in New York. AFP

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks with US troops at an army training range in Bulgaria. AP

Empty strollers are seen outside the Lviv city council building during an action to highlight the number of children killed during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. AFP

Children play on the stage of the theatre of the Ukrainian House where a shelter for refugees has been installed in Przemysl, south-eastern Poland. AFP

Smoke is seen above buildings close to the airport in Lviv, Ukraine. Lviv's mayor said the airport was not hit, but an area nearby. Getty Images

Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at a warehouse after a bombing in Kyiv. AP Photo

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy presents flowers to Kateryna Vlasenko, 16 - who was injured as she fled with her family from the town of Vorzel - at a hospital in Kyiv. Reuters

Igor, a 40 year-old Ukranian soldier, embraces his wife in front of his military basement in the centre of Odesa. AFP

Ukrainian refugees arrive at the reception centre near Palanca Village, about 3 kilometres from the Moldova-Ukraine border. EPA

Broken windows after parts of a Russian missile, shot down by Ukrainian air defences, hit an apartment block in Kyiv. AP

People clear debris outside a medical centre damaged by the same Russian missile after it was intercepted. AP

A police officer looks through the window of a damaged flat in Kyiv. One person was killed and three injured when debris from a downed rocket hit an apartment in the Ukrainian capital. AFP

Firemen working in the rubble after extensive damage in Kyiv. AFP

Family members and comrades of Ivan Skrypny, who was killed in a rocket attack on a military base in Yavoriv, pay their last respects at his memorial service in Lviv, Ukraine. Reuters

A man feels the despair as his home was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. Russian troops trying to encircle the capital have launched early morning strikes on the city for several successive days. AFP

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed shakes hands with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a news conference following their talks in Moscow. Reuters

The Donetsk Regional Theatre of Drama, which was destroyed by an air strike during Russia's military onslaught in Mariupol, Ukraine. Reuters

A satellite image of the theatre before the bombing, with the word 'children' written in Russian in large white letters on the pavement in front of and behind the building. Reuters

A Ukrainian woman and her family in a taxi displaying the colours of the Ukrainian flag upon arriving in Madrid with a group of Spanish taxi drivers who drove to Poland to support the mass evacuation of refugees. Reuters

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A man outside a damaged housing block after it was hit by debris from a downed rocket in Kyiv. AFP

A residential building damaged by a blast wave at the scene where debris from a downed rocket hit a nearby apartment block in Kyiv. AFP

Evacuees from Mariupol are seen upon arrival at the car park of a shopping centre on the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhzhia, which is now a registration centre for displaced people. AFP

Legislators applaud Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukraine's president, after an address via video link at the Bundestag in Berlin. Bloomberg

Turkey’s action was praised in refusing passage through the Bosphorus to Russian warships not part of the Black Sea fleet, which prevented further ship-launched missiles being fired at Odesa.

But Russian warships were preventing safe navigation in the Black Sea and had sunk at least one civilian ship.

Dr Iulian Chifu, security adviser to Romania’s prime minister, criticised Russia’s nihilistic approach. “What is the strategic goal of Russia? Putting a flag on rubble, on mountains of rubble? Is that a victory?,” he said.