25 July 2022

3 minute read

Europe

Ukraine pressed ahead on Sunday with efforts to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages but warned deliveries would suffer if a Russian missile strike on Odessa was a sign of more to come, reported Reuters.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy denounced Saturday's attack as "barbarism" that showed Moscow could not be trusted to implement a deal struck just one day earlier with Turkish and United Nations mediation.

The Ukrainian military, quoted by public broadcaster Suspilne, said the Russian missiles did not hit the port's grain storage area or cause significant damage. Kyiv said preparations to resume grain shipments were ongoing.

"We continue technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports," Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a Facebook post.

According to the Ukrainian military, two Kalibr missiles fired from Russian warships hit the area of a pumping station at the port and two others were shot down by air defence forces.

Russia said on Sunday its forces had hit a Ukrainian warship and a weapons store in Odessa with its high-precision missiles.

The deal signed by Moscow and Kyiv on Friday was hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough that would help curb soaring global food prices by restoring Ukrainian grain shipments to pre-war levels of 5 million tonnes a month. 

But Zelenskiy's economic advisor warned on Sunday the strike on Odessa signalled that could be out of reach.

"Yesterday's strike indicates that it will definitely not work like that," Oleh Ustenko told Ukrainian television.

He said Ukraine could export 60 million tonnes of grain over the next nine months, but it would take up to 24 months if its ports' operations were disrupted. 

SAFE PASSAGE

The strikes on Odessa drew condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Britain, Germany and Italy. 

Russian news agencies quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying an Ukrainian warship and US supplied anti-ship missiles were destroyed.

Friday's deal aims to allow safe passage in and out of Ukrainian ports, blocked by Russia's Black Sea fleet since Moscow's 24 February invasion, in what one UN official called a "de facto ceasefire" for the ships and facilities covered.

Ukraine and Russia are major global wheat exporters and the blockade has trapped tens of millions of tonnes of grain, worsening global supply chain bottlenecks.

Along with Western sanctions on Russia, it has stoked food and energy price inflation, driving some 47 million people into "acute hunger," according to the World Food Programme.

Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis, blaming the sanctions for slowing its food and fertiliser exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports.

Ukraine has mined waters near its ports as part of its war defences but under Friday's deal pilots will guide ships along safe channels.

A Joint Coordination Center staffed by members of the four parties to the agreement will monitor ships passing the Black Sea to Turkey's Bosporus Strait and on to world markets. All sides agreed on Friday there would be no attacks on them.

Source: Reuters