KYIV: Russian missiles hit Ukraine’s port of Odessa on Saturday, in what Kyiv called a “spit in the face” of a day-old deal brokered by Turkish president and UN chief between the warring sides to resume cereal exports blocked by the conflict.

Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar has said Moscow has denied carrying out any attack on the Ukrainian port of Odessa. “The Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and they were looking into the issue very closely,” Mr Akar said a day after Russia and Ukraine signed agreements in Istanbul.

The Ukrainian military said its air defence had shot down two cruise missiles, but two more hit the port, threatening the landmark agreement hammered out over months of negotiations aimed at relieving a global food crisis. The Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman said the strike was “a spit in the face” by Russian leader Vladimir Putin against the deal brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.

Guterres, who presided over the signing ceremony on Friday, “unequivocally” condemned the reported attack on Odessa, his deputy spokesman said, and urged all sides stick to the deal to allow grain exports. “These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe,” he said.

Russia ‘denies attack on port’; US State Dept confirms death of two Americans in Donbas region

EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell directly blamed Russia for the strikes. “Striking a target crucial for grain export a day after the signature of (the) Istanbul agreements is particularly reprehensible and again demonstrates Russia’s total disregard for international law and commitments,” he said.

20 million tonnes of wheat

There was no immediate reaction from Moscow after the attack.

However, Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said Russia would bear “full responsibility for deepening the global food crisis” if the assault jeopardised the agreement.

The first major accord between the countries since the February invasion of Ukraine aims to ease the “acute hunger” that the UN says faces an additional 47 million people because of the war.

Ukraine had entered the Friday’s signing ceremony in Istanbul by bluntly warning that it would conduct “an immediate military response” should Russia violate the agreement and attack its ships or stage an incursion around its ports.

The two sides eventually inked separate but identical agreements in the presence Guterres and Erdogan at Istanbul’s lavish Dolmabahce Palace.

Guterres, moments before the signing, hailed the agreement as “a beacon of hope”. The United States and Britain had also hailed the accord, but urged Moscow to abide by its rules.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky later said the responsibility for enforcing the deal would fall to the UN that along with Turkiye is a co-guarantor of the agreement. The deal includes points on running Ukrainian grain ships along safe corridors that avoid known mines in the Black Sea.

Huge quantities of wheat and other grain have also been blocked in Ukrainian ports by not only Russian warships but also the landmines that Kyiv has laid to avert a feared amphibious assault.

Zelensky said around 20 million tonnes of produce from last year’s harvest and the current crop would be exported under the agreement, estimating the value of Ukraine’s grain stocks at around $10 billion.

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Kremlin state media he expected the deal to start working “in the next few days” though diplomats expect grain to start fully flowing by mid-August.

Strikes on central Ukraine

Russia is trying to fight deeper into the war zone’s Donetsk region after securing full control of neighbouring Lugansk.

The missile strikes on railway infrastructure and a military airfield in the central area of Kirovograd on Saturday killed at least three people and wounded 16 more, regional governor Andriy Raikovych said.

Two Americans have died in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the US State Depart­ment said on Saturday.

Ukraine has established an international legion for volunteers with varying degrees of previous military training, although the State Department did not confirm whether they were in the country for combat purposes. “We can confirm the recent deaths of two US citizens in the Donbas region of Ukraine. We are in touch with the families and providing all possible consular assistance,” a State Depart­ment spokesperson said.

Moscow said two more Americans, both former servicemen, who were taken prisoner in the east of Ukraine last month, could face execution.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2022