Odessa is the largest city and the most important port on the Black Sea coast. It is crucial for the resumption of Ukraine’s grain exports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of routinely not sticking to agreements. The shelling of the port in Odessa “proves one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it,” Zelenskyy said, according to his office in a conversation with US lawmakers.
Moscow initially did not comment on the incident in Odessa, but according to Ankara, Russia denied responsibility for the rocket fire. “The Russians have informed us that they have absolutely nothing to do with this attack and that they are looking into the matter very closely,” said Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. The incident “makes us really concerned,” he added.
The UN and Turkey had been mediating between Kyiv and Moscow for months to get Ukrainian grain deliveries to resume, which had been blocked since the beginning of the war. On Friday, Russia and Ukraine finally reached an agreement and signed an agreement that provides for secured transit routes in the Black Sea for grain deliveries. The warring parties agreed not to attack ships on these routes. Deliveries should begin “in the next few days,” according to Russian sources.
With the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin “spatted in the face UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who have made great efforts to reach an agreement,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko.
Among other things, the agreement is intended to enable the export of the estimated 20 to 25 million tons of wheat that has been stuck in Ukrainian silos as a result of the war that has been going on since the end of February. Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s largest grain producers.
UN Secretary-General Guterres “unequivocally” condemned the shelling of the port of Odessa on Saturday. Full implementation of the agreement is “imperative,” he said. The British government called the attack “absolutely appalling”.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell described it as “particularly reprehensible” that Russia was attacking infrastructure crucial to grain exports one day after the Istanbul agreement. This shows “again Russia’s total disregard for international law and its obligations,” he said on Twitter.
Russian attacks were also reported from other parts of Ukraine on Saturday. At least three people, including a soldier, were killed in the central Ukrainian region of Kirovograd, according to the local governor Andriy Raikovych.
Meanwhile, the US State Department announced that two US citizens had “recently” died in the contested Donbass region. Information about the circumstances of death was not initially known.
