KYIV, Sept 13 — Russian drones struck the Danube river port of Izmail in southern Ukraine today, the region's governor said, as Moscow continued to pound Kyiv's vital export routes.

The Ukrainian military claimed 32 drones were downed during the attack, which the governor said injured several people and caused a fire.

"A total of seven civilians were injured as a result of Russian attack drones in the Izmail district. Six people in Reni and one in Izmail," said Odesa region governor Oleg Kiper on social media.

"Damage to port and other civil infrastructure was recorded," he said.

Since pulling out of a UN-brokered deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine's grain-exporting infrastructure in the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.

Izmail, on the border with NATO member Romania, has become a major export route for Ukrainian agricultural products since Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal in July.

The Defence Forces of Southern Ukraine later said on Telegram that the attack on the Odesa region lasted four and a half hours.

The drones were "aimed at the civilian infrastructure of the Danube", their update said.

Thirty-two Iranian-made Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles "were shot down by air defence forces".

"The port infrastructure suffered damage from the strikes, and a fire... was extinguished promptly."

Military spokesman Andriy Kovalyov said Russia had launched 44 drones in total since the start of the day, targeting both the southern region of Odesa and Sumy region in the northeast. — AFP