Russia Attacks Ukrainian Port after Signing Deal to Revive Grain Exports

On July 23rd, Russia launched a missile attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa. Just one day after Russia and Ukraine each signed an agreement with the United Nations and Turkey to resume food exports, Ukraine said Russia would have to bear all the responsibility for the world food crisis in case the agreement was voided as a result.

It is reported that in a statement on social media, Sergiy Bratchuk, a representative of Ukraine’s Odessa region, said Russian forces attacked Odessa’s seaport with Kalibr cruise missiles, two of which were shot down by air defense systems and two others hit the port’s infrastructure.

In response, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said the attack is equivalent to Putin spitting on the faces of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who made a great effort to broker the agreement.

Nikolanko added Russia must take all responsibility for the worsening global food crisis in the event that the agreements reached are not fulfilled.

According to another report, Ukraine also called on the United Nations and Turkey to ensure that Russia fulfills its commitment in the agreements to establish a safe corridor for grain exports from the Black Sea ports.

In order to restore the grain exports from Russia and Ukraine and alleviate the global food crisis, Russia and Ukraine had signed agreements with the United Nations and Turkey respectively on the issue of exporting agricultural products from Black Sea ports on July 22nd.