UNITED NATIONS, July 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “unequivocally” condemned missile attacks Saturday on Ukraine’s Odessa, a port that is key to a UN-brokered grain export deal between Russia and Ukraine.
“The Secretary-General unequivocally condemns reported strikes today in the Ukrainian port of Odesa,” his deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said in a statement, adding that: “Full implementation (of the deal) by the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Turkey is imperative.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia’s missile attack on the port of Odesa demonstrates that Moscow will find ways not to implement the grain deal struck with the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine.“This proves only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it,” Zelenskyy said in a video posted on Telegram.
Two Russian missiles hit the port of Odesa but caused no significant damage, public broadcaster Suspilne reports, quoting the Ukrainian military.
A pumping station was hit and the attack caused a small fire that damaged houses around the port, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, Natalia Humeniuk, was quoted as saying.The grain storage area was not hit, she added. No casualties have been reported.
Ukraine is still preparing to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports despite a Russian missile strike that hit the port of Odesa on Saturday, according to Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
“We continue technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports,” Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.
The Biden administration condemned the missile attack, saying it “casts serious doubt” on Russia’s commitment to a deal with Ukraine to unblock grain exports.
The deal, brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, was signed on Friday. On Saturday, two Russian cruise missiles hit the port’s infrastructure and Ukrainian air defenses brought down two others, the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command said.
“This attack casts serious doubt on the credibility of Russia’s commitment to yesterday’s deal and undermines the work of the UN, Turkey, and Ukraine to get critical food to world markets,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
Blinken said: “Just 24 hours after finalizing a deal to allow the resumption of Ukrainian agricultural exports through the Black Sea, Russia breached its commitments by attacking the historic port from which grain and agricultural exports would again be transported under this arrangement.”
Moscow “continues to show disregard for the safety and security of millions of civilians as it perpetuates its assault on Ukraine,” added Blinken.
“Russia is starving Ukraine of its economic vitality and the world of its food supply through the effective blockade of the Black Sea,” he said.
Odesa is one of three export hubs designated in the agreement and Ukrainian officials said grain was being stored in the port at the time of the strike although the food stocks did not appear to have been hit.
UK foreign secretary Liz Truss called a Russian attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa “absolutely appalling” and “completely unwarranted”.
Truss said the attack, just a day after a deal between Ukraine and Russia to unblock grain exports, showed that Russia’s Vladimir Putin could not be trusted.
“We need to urgently work with our international partners to find a better way of getting the grain out of Ukraine that doesn’t involve Russia and their broken promises,” she added.
Russia tells Turkey it had ‘nothing to do’ with Odesa port strike.
Turkey’s defence minister says Russian officials have told Ankara that Moscow had “nothing to do” with attacks on Ukraine’s Odesa port.
“In our contact with Russia, the Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack, and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail,” Defence Minister Hulusai Akar said in a statement.
“The fact that such an incident took place right after the agreement we made yesterday really worried us,” he added. — NNN-AGENCIES
