‘The war had come to us too’: how Ukraine’s Danube ports became vital hubs – and targets

A beach near the port in Izmail, which is providing an alternative export route after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal. Photograph: Getty Images

It had been hundreds of years since the world paid much attention to the Danube river port of Izmail at the edge of the estuary that now separates Romania and Ukraine.

The Russian and Ottoman empires traded blows here in the 18th century, and one epic battle in 1790 – followed by a bloody massacre of civilians – was so central to Moscow’s concept of its military power that it was glorified in the country’s first unofficial national anthem.