According to Turkey, on Saturday Moscow still denied any involvement in the air raids on the southern Ukrainian port city. On Sunday, the Kremlin moved away from this representation.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Telegram that “military infrastructure” was destroyed in the attack with “high-precision” Kalibr cruise missiles. The Russian Defense Ministry later confirmed the attack. Russia did not provide evidence for the statements. They could not be checked independently.
The port of Odessa was shelled on Saturday. According to Ukrainian information, the port infrastructure was damaged. Grain was also stored there at the time of the attack, but the stocks were apparently not affected by the shelling.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack as “blatant Russian barbarism”. The attack was also condemned internationally.
Meanwhile, during a visit to Cairo, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov praised the grain agreement and indicated that Russian grain would soon be delivered again. Moscow has confirmed the promise of Russian exporters of grain products “to fulfill all their obligations,” Lavrov said at a press conference on Sunday after talks with his Egyptian colleague Sameh Shukri.
President Vladimir Putin “also underlined this” in a telephone conversation with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, Lavrov added. The chief diplomat also said that UN Secretary-General António Guterres has taken on the responsibility “to lift illegal restrictions on Russian logistics and financial services”.
Like many other Arab countries, Egypt is heavily dependent on wheat imports from Russia and Ukraine. As a result, many did not take a clear position in the Ukraine war. Speaking to the Arab League in Cairo, Lavrov praised the member countries for their “balanced, fair and responsible attitude”.
The UN and Turkey had been mediating between Kyiv and Moscow for months in order to achieve a resumption of Ukrainian grain deliveries, which had been blocked since the beginning of the war. The treaty is to be supplemented by an agreement signed by Russia and the United Nations. This is intended to guarantee that Western sanctions against Russia do not affect the export of Russian grain and fertilizer.
Elsewhere in Ukraine, the Russian army continued shelling unabated over the weekend. The Ukrainian Presidential Office reported attacks in the east and south of the country on Sunday. In the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, four cruise missiles hit residential areas on Saturday. Five people were injured.
Meanwhile, a representative of the military administration loyal to Kyiv in the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson announced initial successes in the planned reconquest of the region occupied by Russia. “We can say that a turning point has been reached on the battlefield,” he said.
