The Ukrainian ports cannot be stopped by the Russian attack on Odessa. They are preparing to export grain. Meanwhile, the Kremlin is giving further details: In addition to a ship repair shop, a warehouse with US weapons was also hit during the shelling.
Russia has admitted the attack on the port of the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa. A Ukrainian military ship and a warehouse with US-supplied Harpoon missiles were destroyed, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram. A ship repair shop had also been rendered unusable. According to Turkey, on Saturday Moscow still denied any involvement in the air strikes.
Meanwhile, three ports on the Black Sea have nevertheless started preparing the transports. Work to restart the ports in Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny is underway, the authority responsible for the seaports said. According to the agreement reached in Istanbul on Friday, the ship convoys would be prepared for grain exports by sea, it said. A caravan is formed, which is to be led by a lead ship. The authority asked shipping companies to register their ships for this. Preparations continued despite Russian missile attacks.
“The Russians have told us that they have nothing to do with this attack and that they are investigating the matter very closely,” said Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. Now the Kremlin has apparently 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 just a day after a grain export agreement was signed. 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”. On the other hand, the attack brings Ukraine “even closer to the goal of getting the weapons we need for our victory,” he added in a video message on Sunday night. Kyiv had previously said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “spit in the face” of the United Nations by shelling Odessa and was endangering the implementation of the agreement on the export of the blocked grain shipments.
The attack was also condemned internationally. For example, the US government questioned Russia’s credibility. The attack raised “serious doubts” about Russia’s involvement, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday. “It undermines efforts by the UN, Turkey and Ukraine to get essential food products to world markets.” 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. Agreement was reached on Friday, among other things, for secured transit routes in the Black Sea. The warring parties agreed not to attack ships on these routes.
Odessa is the main Ukrainian port on the Black Sea coast. The city is one of three places specifically named in the Grain Agreement as central to grain exports. It was initially unclear whether the agreements, which according to Russian statements should take effect in the “next few days”, are now lapsed. 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.
