Due to the strikes by the Russian Federation in the Izmail district of Odessa, which borders Romania, the border crossing point "Orlivka" had to suspend its operations. At the time of the attack, there was a bus with children present. Yuriy Dymchoglo, the founder of the "Orlivka" ferry complex, reported this to Radio Svoboda.
According to him, at the time the aerial attack on the crossing point began, there was a bus with children on the departure side, but they managed to quickly evacuate it.
"There were two buses, one for entry into Ukraine and one for departure. The one for departure had children on board. They processed it quickly, put it on the Romanian ferry, which was already almost departing from the shore when the strikes began. Thank God that the bus with children was not at the crossing point because I don't know what would have happened," Dymchoglo said.
The second bus was processed about 10 minutes later. During its departure, the strikes began, causing a window in the bus to crack. Only the drivers were injured.
As for damage to the infrastructure of the crossing point, warehouse facilities were significantly damaged.
"The civilian infrastructure of the crossing point suffered extensive damage. There were many civilian vehicles, international transportation, and trucks, approximately 30 in total. Six of them were completely destroyed. Several warehouse facilities were damaged, although there was no direct hit there. The main strikes targeted the customs areas and the accumulation zones for international transport for customs control, especially on the entry into Ukraine," said Dymchoglo.
He noted that the administrative building of the crossing point survived, but the blast wave shattered the windows.
Dimcheglo also emphasized that the crossing point is a purely civilian facility where there were no military personnel, except for border guards. At the same time, it is the only border crossing point with a European Union country in southern Ukraine.
At the same time, the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine reported that the operation of the "Orlivka - Isaccea" ferry crossing point between Ukraine and Romania in the Odessa region was temporarily suspended.
In the evening, the press service of the State Customs Service informed about the resumption of the crossing point's operation after the implementation of stabilization measures.
