As Russia continued to blockade food vessels from Ukraine, its military shelled Odesa and an adjacent port late Tuesday and early Wednesday – specifically targeting the possibility of grain exports, Ukrainian officials said.
A few hours later, Nga The Ministry of Defense issued a warning to ship operators and other countries suggested that any attempt to bypass the blockade could be seen as an act of war.
As of midnight, “all ships en route to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered as potential military cargo ships,” it said in a statement. “Accordingly, the flag state of such ships will be considered to be involved in the conflict in Ukraine with the side of the Kiev regime.” The ministry added that even parts of the Black Sea in international waters “have been declared temporarily dangerous for navigation.”
Ukrainian officials accuse Russia of using food as leverage in the war to spread Ukraine’s pain to the rest of the globe.
“The night strike knocked down a significant part of the grain export infrastructure of the port of Chornomorsk,” just south of Odesa, Mykola Solskyi, Ukraine’s Agriculture Minister, said in a statement, adding that experts estimate the damage will take at least a year to repair. In Chornomorsk, just south of Odesa, “60,000 tons of grain were also destroyed, which should have been loaded onto a large ship” and shipped two months ago, he added.
Moscow on Monday withdraw from a United Nations-brokered agreement that has allowed Ukraine to export grain through the Black Sea over the past year, helping to alleviate global shortages and spikes in prices. The Russian Navy has blocked all other ships from entering Ukrainian ports, and Russian authorities have inspected the grain ships to ensure that they are not carrying military equipment.
“Every Russian missile is a blow not only to Ukraine but to everyone in the world who wants a normal and safe life,” Zelensky said Wednesday on the messaging app Telegram.
Russian forces fired at least 30 cruise missiles and 32 drones against Ukraine overnight, mainly from ships in the Black Sea. Ukrainian Air Force said, adding that Ukrainian forces intercepted 14 missiles and 23 drones. It was the second night in a row of attacks centered on Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port, and other shipping hubs.
“It was a hellish night,” Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odesa regional military government, said in a video posted on social media. He called the attack “very powerful, really big” and said it could be the biggest attack on the city since the full-blown invasion of Russia began.
On Tuesday, Moscow denied that the previous night’s attack had anything to do with the recently suspended grain deal, calling it a “mass retaliatory attack” on facilities used to manufacture attack drones, especially naval drones used in an exercise. attack on monday on bridge connecting Russia with the Crimean peninsula occupied by Russia.
According to the Ukrainian military, during Wednesday morning’s bombardment, explosive waves from an intercepted missile damaged several buildings and injured civilians. Port infrastructureThe military said, including a grain and oil storage, tanks and loading equipment, was damaged, and warehouses of cigarettes and fireworks were also attacked. The Odesa city government said 10 people needed medical help, including a 9-year-old boy.
Drones shot down by anti-aircraft gunners light up the night sky like deadly fireworks as families huddle in hallways and bathrooms. At resort hotels on the harborside, guests are rushed through kitchens and sun loungers to shelters.
A missile flew over the crane and warehouse in the shipyard and crashed into the burial ground of Father of Iryna Pustovarova. After sunrise, she went to inspect the cemetery, but had to wait for bomb disposal technicians to make sure there were no explosives. Even the dead, the 19-year-old said, tears streaming down her face, cannot rest in peace in Ukraine.
Serhiy Popko, the head of the city’s military administration, said Russia also launched a series of drones on Wednesday in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, but all were destroyed by the city’s air defenses.
In Crimea, a massive fire at a military training site forced the evacuation of at least 2,000 residents and closed a highway, according to Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Crimea appointed by Russia. It was not immediately clear whether the fire was caused by a Ukrainian attack.
Russia’s ability to strike critical infrastructure reflects the patchwork nature of Ukraine’s air defenses, dense around Kiev and some other locations, but sparse elsewhere.
“We can cover the ports of Odesa, the Kyiv region, Dnipro, Lviv,” Yurii Ihnat, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, said during an appearance on Ukrainian television. “But we can’t block all the directions from which the missile enters Ukraine.”
Before the war, Ukraine and Russia were among the world’s largest exporters of grains, cooking oils and fertilizers, and were particularly important suppliers to certain parts of Africa and the Middle East. With Russia’s blockade of Ukraine and Western sanctions on Russia, these exports plummeted early last year, exacerbating global shortages, sending prices skyrocketing, and causing prices to skyrocket. raised concerns about hunger.
The grain deal signed in July 2022 allows Ukraine’s shipments to resume, and the United Nations says the country has exported nearly 33 million tons of grain by sea since then. Ukraine has also boosted exports by rail, truck and river barges.
The agreement also includes steps to ease Russian agricultural exports, but the Kremlin has frequently complained that these measures are not enough.
On Monday, Moscow repeatedly threatened to withdraw from the agreement. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply disappointed” by the decision.
Chicago wheat futures, a global benchmark, jumped as much as 9% on Wednesday following Russia’s announcement, the biggest percentage gain since the war broke out last February. But with global supply more abundant than last year, prices are still far below the levels reached when the war began.
On Wednesday, the United States said it would send $1.3 billion in financial support to Kiev to purchase a range of new military equipment and ammunition, including four additional air defense missile systems known as anti-aircraft missile systems. NASAMS, co-produced by the United States and Norway; added 152mm artillery shells for Ukraine’s old Soviet-era howitzers; anti-tank missiles; Attack drones and equipment for demining.
More ammunition and demining are among the most pressing needs of the Ukrainian military during the counter-offensive, which has so far achieved little basis.
But far from the battlefield, there are already signs of vulnerability for Moscow.
Kremlin announced President Vladimir V. Putin will not attend next month’s diplomatic summit in person in South Africa, a decision that will allow the host country to avoid the difficult decision of whether to arrest the Russian leader. subject of international warrants about war crimes.
And, in a previous speech a Politico event in PragueRichard Moore, head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency, in a rare public appearance, said Putin had “agreed to save his skin” and ended last month’s mutiny by Wagner mercenaries and their leader, Yevgeny V. Prigozhin.
“I think maybe he feels under some pressure,” Moore said of Putin, speaking at the British ambassador’s residence in the Czech capital. “Prigozhin is his creature, completely created by Putin, but he turned against him.”
Marc Santora report from Odesa, Ukraine, Matthew Mpoke Bigg from London and Joe Rennison from New York. Report contributed by John Ismay from Washington, John Eligon from Johannesburg and Victoria Kim from Seoul.
