Russia unleashed intense drone and missile attacks overnight on Wednesday, damaging critical port infrastructure in southern Ukraine.
Officials said grain and oil terminals were damaged and at least 12 people were injured during the attacks.
The bombardment crippled significant parts of export facilities in Odesa and nearby Chornomorsk and destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain, according to Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry.
It came days after President Vladimir Putin pulled Russia out of its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a wartime deal that enabled Ukraine’s exports to reach many countries facing the threat of hunger.
It also followed a vow by Mr Putin to retaliate against Kyiv for an attack on the crucial Kerch Bridge linking Russia with the Crimean Peninsula, which the Kremlin illegally annexed in 2014.
Mr Putin said Russia could return to the deal if the West offers Russian banks involved in servicing payments for the country’s agricultural exports an immediate access to the SWIFT payment system, adding that Moscow wants its conditions met, not “some promises and ideas”.
The Russian leader also listed other Russian demands, including a lifting of insurance and shipping restrictions that affect Russian agricultural exports and a resumption of Moscow’s export of ammonia to Odesa via a pipeline, a section of which was blown up last month.
He said Moscow has shown “miracles of patience and tolerance” by repeatedly extending the grain deal while Western nations used it “shamelessly enrich themselves,” violating its declared goal of helping relieve hunger in poor countries.
Further raising the stakes, the Russian Defense Ministry issued a statement that Moscow has declared international waters in parts of the Black Sea “temporarily dangerous” for shipping. That follows Ukraine’s pledge to continue grain shipments despite Russia’s withdrawal from the deal.
The ministry warned it will see any incoming vessel as laden with military cargo starting from midnight. “The countries whose flags those ships will fly will be seen as involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime,” it said.
Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry, citing experts, estimated it would take a year to restore the facilities damaged on Wednesday. The destroyed grain was supposed to have been loaded onto a vessel and sent through the grain corridor two months ago, the statement said.
“Such attacks by Russian terrorists are not only affecting our country but also global stability,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said during a briefing with the visiting Irish Prime Minister in Kyiv. He said Ukraine needs more anti-aircraft defence systems to protect the port.
Zelensky said his government is trying to find a way to maintain a corridor to keep grain exports flowing despite Russia’s decision to abandon the deal brokered with the UN and Turkey.
“The corridor must be secure. In fact, knowing Russia, it won’t be safe unless the UN starts working very clearly and firmly at the level of the secretary-general,” he said.
Agriculture minister Mykola Solskyi warned that if Ukraine cannot export food, “the population of the poorest countries will be on the brink of survival! The price of grain will increase, and not all countries will be able to afford buying agricultural products, which means food prices will significantly rise: flour, cereals, meat.”
