Russia launched "hellish" overnight strikes focused on two of Ukraine's key Black Sea ports, with Kyiv accusing Moscow on Wednesday of deliberately damaging grain export infrastructure, vowing not to be intimidated from working to keep grain moving out of them.

In a second consecutive overnight attack, Russia struck grain terminals and port infrastructure in Odesa and nearby Chernomorsk after quitting a deal on Monday that allowed the safe passage of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

"Russian terrorists absolutely deliberately targeted the infrastructure of the grain deal," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app. "Every Russian missile – is a strike not only on Ukraine but on everyone in the world who wants normal and safe life."

Ukraine's Prosecutor General's office said 10 civilians, including a 9-year-old boy, were wounded. Grains terminals were damaged as well as an industrial facility, warehouses, shopping malls, residential and administrative buildings and cars.

There was no immediate response from Russia, which said on Tuesday it had hit military targets in two Ukrainian port cities overnight as "a mass revenge strike" for a blast that damaged its bridge to Crimea, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.

Ukraine's air force said on Wednesday that 63 missiles and drones had been launched across the country by Russia, mainly focused on infrastructure and military facilities in the Odesa region. Air defenses had shot down 37 of them, it said, a lower proportion than it has usually reported over months of attacks.

A considerable part of the grain export infrastructure at Chornomorsk port southwest of Odesa was damaged, Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said, adding that 60,000 tons of grain had been destroyed.

The attack was "very powerful, truly massive," Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesperson for the Odesa military administration, said in a voice message on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

"It was a hellish night," he said.

Ukraine's southern military command said Russia had used supersonic missiles, including the Kh-22 that was designed to take out aircraft carriers, to hit Odesa's port infrastructure.

The Odesa region's three ports were the only ones operating in Ukraine during the war under the United Nations and Türkiye-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative – designed to enable Ukrainian grain exports that are vital to global supplies despite a Russian blockade of Ukraine's ports.

"(They) are trying to scare the whole world, especially those who want to work for the grain corridor ... Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations," said Bratchuk.

"But I think that all normal, rational people will look and say: Odesa was not afraid, is not afraid and will not be afraid – we will work."

Ukraine has vowed to continue shipments despite Moscow's withdrawal from the year-old initiative shortly after the bridge was hit on Monday. The United Nations said Moscow's exit risked creating hunger around the world.

In an official letter on Wednesday, Kyiv said the country was setting up a temporary shipping route to maintain grain shipments after Russia's exit.

Ideas for grain exports

The United Nations said Tuesday there were a "number of ideas being floated" to help get Ukrainian grain and Russian grain and fertilizer to global markets. Moscow's decision raised concern primarily in Africa and Asia of rising food prices and hunger.

The accord was one of the only diplomatic successes of the war, lifting a de facto Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and heading off a global food emergency.

Ukraine and Russia are the world's biggest exporters of grain and other foodstuffs. If Ukrainian grain is again blocked from the market, prices could soar around the world, hitting the poorest countries hardest.

Russia's withdrawal on Monday, which included revoking its guarantees for safe navigation, also ended a pact between the U.N. and Moscow in which U.N. officials agreed to help Russian food and fertilizer exports reach world markets.

However, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres "will continue to explore all possible avenues to ensure that Ukrainian grain, Russian grain, Russian fertilizer are out on the global market," his spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

For Ukraine's part, "we are fighting for global security and our Ukrainian farmer" and working on options to keep commitments on food supply, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Tuesday.

Moscow spurned calls from Ukraine to allow shipping to resume without Russian participation, with the Kremlin openly saying ships entering the area without its guarantees would be in danger.

"We're talking about an area that's close to a war zone," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said. "Without the appropriate security guarantees, certain risks arise there. So if something is formalized without Russia, these risks should be taken into account."

Zelenskyy has effectively sought Türkiye's backing to negate the Russian blockade. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the deal's powerful sponsor, says he still thinks Moscow can be persuaded to return.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said an alternative to the Black Sea grain deal had to be found and "there are very active discussions now."

Temporary shipping route

In a letter dated July 18 submitted to the U.N. shipping agency, the International Shipping Organization, on Wednesday Ukraine said it had "decided to establish on a temporary basis a recommended maritime route."

"Its goal is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the north-western part of the Black Sea," Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine's acting minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in the letter.

Ukraine added in the letter that the additional traffic route it was establishing would lead to the territorial waters and exclusive maritime economic zone of Romania, which is one of the neighboring Black Sea countries.

The EU said on Tuesday it is seeking to transport more Ukrainian grains via road and rail. While appreciative of EU efforts, Kuleba said Ukrainian exports through Europe would not be able to "compensate for the absence of deliveries from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea."

Kuleba said the focus on reviving Black Sea shipments was either to continue within the existing framework or create a new model, but added: "The problem, of course, is what is going to happen if Russia decides to attack a vessel carrying grain."

"We have to take risks and we have to demonstrate that we can carry on without Russia," he told reporters on Tuesday during a visit to the U.N.

Moscow has suggested it would consider resurrecting the Black Sea agreement if demands to improve exports of its own grain and fertilizer were met. It quit because it said those demands had not been met and complained that insufficient Ukraine grain was reaching poor countries under the deal.

But the U.N. argued the arrangement had benefited those states by helping lower food prices by more than 20% globally. Ukraine has also been a key supplier of grain for the U.N. World Food Programme's (WFP) efforts to fight hunger.

"This is going to make our ability to feed hungry people that much more difficult," WFP's regional director in East Africa, Michael Dunford, said of Russia's withdrawal, which would "exacerbate what is already a terrible situation."

Western countries call Moscow's move an attempt to use leverage over food supplies to force a weakening in financial sanctions, which already allow Russia to sell food.

Russia has said it was prepared to supply poor countries in Africa with grain for free and the Kremlin said on Tuesday that the matter would be discussed at a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg next week.

Zelenskyy said on Tuesday that without Ukraine's exports, "the deficit on the global market will, unfortunately, be quite tangible."

"And not only for the poorest countries. Different countries will feel it – from Libya and Egypt to Bangladesh and China," he said. "We are working with our partners to prevent this."