Moscow stated on Sunday that Russian air strikes on the Ukrainian port metropolis of Odesa have been aimed toward army targets together with a stockpile of U.S.-supplied missiles.
The assault on Saturday raised doubts over Moscow’s willingness to abide by an important settlement reached on Friday to unblock Ukraine’s seaports to permit for the transport of hundreds of thousands of tons of grain and different agricultural merchandise.
The Russian missile assault on Saturday additionally hit a warship and services to restore ships, the Russian Protection Ministry informed reporters in Moscow.
“Within the seaport within the metropolis of Odesa, on the territory of a shipyard, sea-based high-precision long-range missiles destroyed a docked Ukrainian warship and a warehouse with Harpoon anti-ship missiles equipped by the U.S. to the Kyiv regime,” ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov stated at a each day briefing on Sunday, the Related Press reported.
The missile strike drew worldwide condemnation.
“America strongly condemns the Russian missile assault on the Ukrainian port of Odesa,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a assertion. “Simply 24 hours after finalizing a deal to permit the resumption of Ukrainian agricultural exports by the Black Sea, Russia breached its commitments by attacking the historic port from which grain and agricultural exports would once more be transported underneath this association.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy described the assault as “barbarism” late on Saturday, and questioned the deserves of dialogue with Russia.
However the authorities in Kyiv vowed to push on with efforts to restart exports of grain and different crops.
Ukraine “won’t again down from our objective of unlocking seaports,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov stated on Fb. “We proceed technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural merchandise from our ports.”
Round 20 million tons of grain has been waylaid at Ukrainian ports since Russia’s invasion of the nation in February. Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Coverage stated on Saturday that it anticipated “the primary shipments” to begin to transfer on Sunday or Monday, based on the Suspilne information outlet.
