At least six explosions were heard in Odessa, according to Ukrainian parliamentarian Oleksiy Goncharenko.
It comes a day after Ukrainian and Russian ministers signed an agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul, to allow grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports to ease the global food crisis caused by for the war.
“That’s all you need to know about deals with Russia,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas added on Twitter. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said the bloc “strongly condemns” the attack.
“Hitting a crucial grain export target a day after the signing of the Istanbul accords is particularly reprehensible and again demonstrates Russia’s utter disregard for international law and commitments,” Borrell wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
“Russia agreed to an agreement on the export of grains, but immediately after this it attacked it, which shows that it wants to continue to threaten the world’s food security,” Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Goncharenko said in an interview with CNN on Saturday.
“There will be new campaigns where [Putin] it will definitely attack Odessa and the world’s only answer to this is to give Ukraine weapons – finally give Ukraine long-range missiles, fighters. And that is the only answer to this aggression by Putin and to restore the international order,” he said.
The attacks hit a pumping station in the port, Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa regional military administration, said on Saturday.
“Today, 4 rockets hit Odessa. Thank God that our air defense forces units destroyed 2 missiles on approach. Two more missiles flew into the port, into the infrastructure facility,” Bratchuk said in an interview with Ukrainian media. . “This is a pumping station, which is located on the territory of the port of Odessa.”
Bratchuk said there were no casualties and grain stored there was undamaged. He also said the attacks were launched from a warship.
‘Scandalous’ attack
Until now, Russia has been blocking maritime access to those ports, which means that millions of tons of Ukrainian grain have not been exported to the many countries that depend on it.
“Today, there is a beacon in the Black Sea. A beacon of hope, a beacon of possibility, a beacon of relief, in a world that needs it more than ever,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday. at the signing ceremony, which was attended by the ministers of Ukraine and Russia.
But Saturday’s attack sparked anger and concern about the future of that deal.
“This is everything you need to know about the ‘agreements’ with the Russians. Explosions in the seaport of #Odessa. One day after the agreement was signed with #Turkey and the #UN for the re-export of #grain from #Ukraine under which #Russia has agreed not to bomb the port,” tweeted Ukrainian MP Solomiia Bobrovska.
Brachuk has advised residents to stay in shelters as aerial alerts continue.
“It was a ray of hope,” Samantha Power, administrator of the US Agency for International Development, said of the grain deal on Saturday.
“Now, we have just received news that Russian forces have bombed the Odessa port infrastructure, the same port infrastructure that is needed to transport these grains to the Black Sea,” Power said.
“This is grotesque and is just the latest hint of the cool disregard Vladimir Putin has for the cost of the war in Ukraine, a man-made war he created for no reason; the cost in Ukraine for human life there; and the ripple effect around the world,” he said.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday that Russia claimed it “had nothing to do” with the attacks.
“The Russians told us in certain terms that they have nothing to do with this attack. They monitor the situation very closely and in detail,” Akar said in a video statement.
“We were really worried that such an event would happen after we signed the agreement on grain shipments. We are also upset. But we continue to fulfill our responsibilities on this agreement and we also express in our meetings that we are in favor of the parties. continue their cooperation here calmly and patiently,” said Akar, who represented Turkey at the signing of the grain deal in Istanbul on Friday.
Akar also said that Turkey received information about the attacks from Ukraine and “then we spoke on the phone with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, with whom we were already in contact.”
“They said that one of the missile attacks hit one of the silos there, and the other fell in an area near the silo, but the important thing there is that there is no problem with the loading capacity and capacity of the docks, and that the activities there can continue,” he said.