Russian missiles hit the Black Sea port of Odessa on Saturday, Ukrainian officials said a day after Moscow and Kyiv reached a deal to release millions of tons of trapped grain and ease a global food crisis.
Russian missiles strike Odessa port day after grain deal, Ukraine says
Air raid warnings in the city sounded at about 11 a.m. local time. The military said air defense systems shot down two other missiles in an attack that the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine described as “outrageous.”
The strike imperils an agreement that U.N. and Turkish officials, less than 24 hours earlier, had hailed as a breakthrough after months of negotiations. Friday’s agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, would help lift a blockade that has exposed countries around the world to the threat of rising hunger, especially in Africa and the Middle East.
The deal depends in part on Russian promises not to attack Odessa and two other ports involved in the shipments. It included security assurances for both Ukraine and Russia, who agreed not to “undertake any attacks against merchant vessels and other civilian vessels and port facilities” tied to the initiative.
Ukrainian officials accused the Kremlin of jeopardizing the deal, which guarantees the safe passage of merchant ships from the three ports, to restart the flow of grain cut off by a Russian naval blockade.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Turkey said the attack showed the deal with Russia wasn’t “even worth the signed paper,” while a Ukrainian foreign ministry official called it a “spit in the face” of the U.N. chief and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“It took less than 24 hours for Russia to launch a missile attack on Odesa’s port,” Oleg Nikolenko, a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman, said on Saturday. “In case of nonfulfillment, Russia will bear full responsibility for global food crisis.”
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry, shared an image on Telegram that appeared to show smoking rising from the facility. “How will the safety of vessels in the port of Odesa be ensured, if Russia continues shelling?” he wrote.
U.N. officials said the safe passage of grain shipments, and any violations of the agreement, were meant to be resolved by a coordination center in Istanbul run jointly by Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations, but it has yet to be set up.
Other elements were expected to take weeks to put in place, they said. The deal calls for merchant ships to travel along agreed channels through the Black Sea, and involves inspections in Turkish ports of vessels headed for Ukraine to ensure they are not carrying weapons.
Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry said there were grain shipments at Odessa port on Saturday that were ready for export, but it did not specify the quantities, according to public broadcaster Suspline.
U.N. chief António Guterres “unequivocally condemns reported strikes today” in Odessa and called on Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to ensure “full implementation,” his office said.
“Yesterday, all parties made clear commitments on the global stage,” he added. “These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe.”
The U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A. Brink, said “the Kremlin continues to weaponize food,” in a message on Twitter. “Russia must be held to account.”
Dalton Bennett in Odessa contributed to this report.
Source: WP
