2023-07-18 10:22:07
Russia has launched a series of airstrikes in eastern and southern Ukraine, hours after Moscow announced its withdrawal. grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea. The city of Odessa has been attacked with cruise missiles during the early morning, causing damage to the port infrastructure of the city, one of the three Ukrainian ports that were included in the pact suspended on Monday.
“Last night Odessa was attacked with six Kalibr missiles from the Black Sea,” the representative of the region’s Military Administration, Serguí Bratchuk, reported on Tuesday, explaining that all the missiles were shot down by Ukrainian anti-aircraft defenses.
According to Bratchuk, “the remains of the downed missiles and the explosions” from the interceptions “caused damage to objects in the port infrastructure and several houses.” In one of those houses, a 74-year-old man was injured, who has been hospitalized.
Oleksandr Senkevich, the mayor of Mykolaiv, has reported an attack in the region by Russian drones. “Around 1:50 AM an industrial facility was attacked. There was a fire with an area of 500 square meters. The state emergency service attended and around 5:30 a.m., the fire was extinguished, ”he reported through his Telegram channel. The Ukrainian air force has also warned of drone strikes in the Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk and Dnipro regions, The Guardian reports.
“The Russian night attack on Odesa and Mykolaiv using kamikaze rockets and drones is further proof that the terrorist country wants to endanger the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on food exports from Ukraine” , declared Ukrainian presidential adviser Andriy Yermak.
The new missile attack against the port of Odessa takes place hours after the Kremlin announced that it will not extend the so-called grain agreement, signed by Russia with Turkey and the UN and in which Moscow promised to allow Ukrainian grain to leave. from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports, including Odessa.
The agreement was signed in July last year to ensure food security around the world. Ukraine is one of the largest international exporters of grain.
The Russian military invasion of the Black Sea has compromised its navigability, which is dominated by Russian forces. Ukraine has asked Turkey and the UN to continue guaranteeing the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea without Russia in case Moscow does not rectify.
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