Putin ‘spits in face’ of United Nations by firing missiles at Odesa

Russian missiles strike the port city a day after deal to export grain from there was signed

Firefighters work at a site of a Russian missile strike in a sea port of Odesa, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues. Picture by Reuters

James Kilner
July 24 2022 

Vladimir Putin has “spat in the face” of the UN by firing missiles at Odesa just a day after the Kremlin signed a deal to allow grain exports from the port, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from warships in the Black Sea at infrastructure used to store grain and load it onto cargo ships, according to the Ukrainian air force.

Video footage showed a fire at the port but there were conflicting reports over whether the two missiles had hit a grain storage facility in the mid-morning attack. There were no casualties.

Another video posted online showed sunbathers on a beach near Odesa watching the city’s missile defence system destroy several other Russian rockets in the sky.

“Here is the grain corridor. These scumbags sign contracts with one hand and direct missiles with the other,” said Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian MP.

Russia has denied the attacks and said it only fires missiles at military facilities in Odesa.

The city is home to the largest port in Ukraine and is the main export terminal for grain. It was expected to reopen soon as part of a grain export deal signed with Russia in Istanbul on Friday.

But Volodymyr Zelensky said the strike showed Moscow would renege on the agreement.

“This proves only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it,” the Ukrainian president said.

Oleg Nikolenko, his foreign ministry spokesman, said the attack was “Putin’s spit in the face of UN secretary general Antonio Guterres and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who made enormous efforts to reach the agreement”.

He added: “If the reached agreement is not fulfilled, Russia will bear full responsibility for deepening the global food crisis.”

Ukrainian officials said they were continuing to work on restarting exports despite the strikes.

Mr Guterres “unequivocally condemned” the attacks, which could potentially derail grain reaching vulnerable countries in Africa where millions of people are reliant on it as a major part of their diet.

“These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe,” the UN said in a statement.

Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Kyiv, called the strike “outrageous”, adding: “The Kremlin continues to weaponise food. Russia must be held to account.” Mr Guterres had described the deal as a “beacon on the Black Sea”. UN officials had said that grain shipments from the three reopened Ukrainian ports would hit pre-war levels of 5 million tonnes per month within a few weeks.

Grain exports have triggered major rows between Ukraine and Russia with Kyiv accusing the Kremlin of stealing its grain to sell illegally on the black market through Syria.

Moscow has denied responsibility for grain shortages around the world and rising prices. It has blamed Western sanctions for slowing fertiliser imports and Ukraine for mining its own Black Sea waters. On a trip to Tehran last week, Mr Putin had discussed grain shipments with Mr Erdogan.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian missiles killed three people yesterday in the Kirovograd region of central Ukraine, hundreds of miles behind the frontlines. Missiles also pounded the city of Mykolaiv, which has been targeted by Russia for weeks.

Officials in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, also reported several missile strikes on the city centre.


Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]

QUOTES-Reactions to Russia's strike on Ukraine's Odesa port

Sat, July 23, 2022

KYIV, July 23 (Reuters) - A Russian strike on Ukraine's Odesa port on Saturday has threatened a deal to aid grain exports and ease a global food crisis.

Following is global reaction:

UNITED NATIONS SPOKESPERSON

"The Secretary-General (Antonio Guterres) unequivocally condemns reported strikes today in the Ukrainian port of Odesa. Yesterday, all parties made clear commitments on the global stage to ensure the safe movement of Ukrainian grain and related products to global markets. These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe."

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKIY

"This proves only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it (the grain deal)."

RUSSIA

A Russian defence ministry statement on Saturday outlining progress in the war did not mention any strike in Odesa. The ministry did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for comment.

However, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reposted the U.N. condemnation and said: "It is awful that UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres does not 'unequivocally' condemn also the Kyiv regime's killing of children in Donbas."

TURKISH DEFENCE MINISTER HULUSI AKAR

"They (Ukrainian officials) stated that one of the missile attacks hit one of the silos there, and the other one fell in an area close to the silo, but there was no problem in the loading capacity and capability of the docks, which is important, and that the activities there can continue.

"The Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack, and that they were examining the issue very closely and in detail. The fact that such an incident took place right after the agreement we made yesterday regarding the grain shipment really worried us."

UKRAINIAN INFRASTRUCTURE MINISTER OLEKSANDR KUBRAKOV

"We continue technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports."

GERMAN FOREIGN MINISTER ANNALENA BAERBOCK

"The cowardly missile attacks on the port of Odesa show that the Russian leadership's signature counts for little at the moment."

U.S. AMBASSADOR TO KYIV BRIDGET BRINK

"Outrageous. Russia strikes the port city of Odesa less than 24 hours after signing an agreement to allow shipments of agricultural exports. The Kremlin continues to weaponize food. Russia must be held to account."

EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JOSEP BORRELL

"Striking a target crucial for grain export a day after the signature of Istanbul agreements is particularly reprehensible and again demonstrates Russia's total disregard for international law and commitments."

UK FOREIGN SECRETARY LIZ TRUSS

"It is absolutely appalling that only a day after striking this deal, (Russian President) Vladimir Putin has launched a completely unwarranted attack on Odesa.

"It shows that not a word he says can be trusted and we need to urgently work with our international partners to find a better way of getting the grain out of Ukraine that doesn't involve Russia and their broken promises."

UKRAINE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON OLEG NIKOLENKO

"The Russian missile is Vladimir Putin's spit in the face of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who went to great lengths to reach an agreement and to whom Ukraine is grateful."

HEAD OF UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT'S OFFICE ANDRIY YERMAK

"The Russians are systematically creating a food crisis, doing everything to make people suffer. Famine terror continues. The world must act. The best food safety guarantees are twofold: effective sanctions against Russia and more weapons for Ukraine."

MAKSYM MARCHENKO, GOVERNOR OF ODESA REGION

"Unfortunately there are wounded people. The port's infrastructure was damaged."

(Reporting by Reuters bureaux; Compiled by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Frances Kerry)