Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Russia’s strategic targeting of Ukrainian grain ports, failures to alleviate mass flooding in China, and an Indian Supreme Court challenge to Kashmir’s disputed sovereignty.

Moscow dealt a devastating blow to global food supplies on Wednesday when Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Izmail port along the Danube River. Nearly 40,000 metric tons of grain earmarked for Africa, China, and Israel were damaged, wrote Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov. Fires raged across the port’s facilities, and local officials have suspended operations indefinitely. No casualties were reported.

The attack was part of Moscow’s broader strategy of targeting facilities critical to Ukraine’s economy as well as international food security. Prior to Russia leaving the Black Sea Grain Deal—which had ensured that both Russia and Ukraine could safely ship grain through the critical waterway—Danube River ports, including Izmail, accounted for roughly one-quarter of Ukrainian grain exports. Since Moscow left the grain deal on July 17, the Kremlin has destroyed at least 26 Ukrainian port facilities, five civilian vessels, and 180,000 metric tons of grain.

“Attacks on Ukrainian ports are a threat to the world,” Kubrakov wrote.

The assault’s proximity to Romania, which is but a boat trip across the river, also drew international condemnation. The offensive on Izmail, as well as one on another Danube River port last week, were the closest Russian strikes to a NATO member’s territory since Moscow’s invasion first began. By targeting grain warehouses and incoming ships, Russia is posing “a major test for the international community’s ability to safeguard shipping in the area and freedom of navigation,” reported FP’s Christina Lu and Amy Mackinnon. “While Russia has waged war against Ukraine for over a year, an attack on a single commercial vessel could embroil several countries in one fell swoop.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, urging him to rejoin the Black Sea Grain Deal and stop targeting food and fertilizer facilities. Putin maintained his insistence that changes to the deal, specifically better protections for Russian grain exports, must be made before he would consider resigning.

According to Kremlin authorities, Izmail’s port was targeted because it housed foreign mercenaries and military equipment. These claims could not be independently verified. Putin also asserted that Wednesday’s strikes were in retaliation against Ukrainian attacks on a key supply bridge connecting the Kherson Oblast to Russian-occupied Crimea. Two people were killed in that strike, which Putin called a “terrorist attack.”

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Ill-prepared. Around 9,000 rescue workers were deployed to Zhuozhou, China, on Wednesday as mass flooding from Typhoon Doksuri continues to decimate the area. Zhuozhou officials stated on Tuesday that the city’s residents are facing drinking water shortages and partial power blackouts. Authorities declared a state of emergency last Saturday when the rainfall began. At least 20 people have died, and more than one-sixth of the city’s population has been evacuated thus far.

Beijing and the surrounding Hebei province, where Zhuozhou is located, bore the brunt of much of China’s typhoon hit, receiving 14 inches of rain in less than a week—its worst rainfall since July 2012. With the region usually sporting a drier climate, Beijing has struggled to maintain operations. Hundreds of flights out of the nation’s capital have been delayed or canceled, and numerous subway lines remain shut down.

Question of status. Control over the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region is once again under negotiation. On Wednesday, India’s Supreme Court began hearing petitions that challenge a 2019 law stripping the Jammu and Kashmir region of its special semi-autonomous status. Four years ago, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed legislation that voided the region’s constitution, split the land into two federal territories, and placed all residents under central government control.

In practice, that meant the majority-Muslim region now fell under Modi’s Hindu nationalist government, which has a history of implementing Islamophobic laws. “The abrogation was a betrayal and an assault on our identity,” said Hasnain Masoodi, a Kashmiri petitioner and a former judge on Kashmir’s high court.

Out with the old. Facing economic instability and food shortages, Tunisian President Kais Saied fired Prime Minister Najla Bouden on Tuesday. No official explanation for her removal was given, although Saied acknowledged that “there are colossal challenges that we must overcome with a solid and strong will, in order to protect our homeland, our state, and social peace”—leading some regional experts to suspect that Saied fears a repeat bread riot saga, which last occurred in 1984.

Ahmed al-Hachani, a former senior executive for Tunisia’s central bank, will replace Bouden effective immediately. Bouden’s removal is a bitter pill for some gender rights activists, who celebrated her tenure as Tunisia’s first female government leader. However, many Tunisians viewed her dismissal with indifference. “When you are appointed by a coup that has levelled the constitution, the law, and the Tunisian state institutions, and when you throw your lot in with criminals and murderers, then it is not surprising that you remain a sycophant nodding your head until they expel you through the small door,” wrote opposition politician Abdelmalik Hussein.

It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s … a drone bringing your mail. Scotland’s Orkney archipelago became the first region in the United Kingdom on Tuesday to have letters and packages delivered by electric drone. Some routes may require postal staff to complete the delivery, though. If all goes well, then the initial three-month trial period may be extended permanently.