On Saturday, Russia denied shelling the Ukrainian port of Odessa. After harsh international criticism, Russia admitted on Sunday that it was responsible for the shelling. The attack came just a day after the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain was signed in Istanbul.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has condemned the rocket attacks on the port of Odessa as an act of “blatant Russian barbarism”. The beatings are another reason for giving Ukraine such weapons “that are necessary for our victory,” said the head of state in a video message published on Saturday evening.
Zelenskiy said that Russia had exposed itself politically with the rocket attacks. “If anyone in the world said earlier that it is necessary to enter into dialogue with Russia, to reach agreements on a ceasefire without liberating our territory from the occupiers, today’s missiles have destroyed the possibility of such statements,” he said. The attack was internationally condemned.
Assurance not to fire on ships
On Friday, Russia pledged in the agreement that ships for export would be allowed to use a sea corridor and not fired at them. The three ports involved must therefore not be attacked. Among other things, it is about the export of millions of tons of grain. The agreement, signed through the mediation of the United Nations and Turkey, provides for exports to be monitored from a control center in Istanbul.
The US government condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms. Just one day after the agreement to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, Russia broke its commitments, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Saturday (local time). “This attack raises serious doubts about the credibility of Russia’s commitment to yesterday’s agreement.”
Blinken said the shelling was undermining the work of the United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine to get essential food products to world markets. Russia bears responsibility for worsening the global food crisis. Moscow has approved the grain export agreement and now has the duty to fully implement it.
Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday that Russia had nothing to do with the attack and wanted to investigate the incident.