Ukraine warns grain shipments may suffer if Russian attacks on ports continue
CBC
Ukraine pressed ahead on Sunday with efforts to restart grain exports from its Black Sea ports under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages, but it warned that deliveries would suffer if Russia's strike on Odesa the day before is a sign of more to come.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denounced Saturday's attack as "barbarism" that showed Moscow could not be trusted to implement a deal struck just one day earlier with Turkish and United Nations mediation.
Public broadcaster Suspilne quoted the Ukrainian military as saying after the strike that the missiles did not hit the port's grain storage area or cause significant damage, and Kyiv said preparations to resume grain shipments were ongoing.
"We continue technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports," Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a Facebook post on Saturday.
Russia said on Sunday that its forces had hit a Ukrainian warship and a weapons store in Odesa with missiles.
The deal signed by Moscow and Kyiv on Friday was hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough that would help curb soaring global food prices, with UN officials saying it could restore Ukrainian grain shipments to pre-war levels of five million tonnes a month.
But Zelenskyy's economic adviser warned on Sunday that the strike on Odesa signalled that could be out of reach.
"Yesterday's strike indicates that it will definitely not work like that," Oleh Ustenko told Ukrainian television.
He said Ukraine did have the capacity to export 60 million tonnes of grain over the next nine months, but it would take up to 24 months if its ports could not function properly.
As the war entered its sixth month on Sunday, there was no sign of a let-up in the fighting.
The Ukrainian military reported Russian shelling in the north, south and east, and again referred to Russian operations paving the way for an assault on Bakhmut in the eastern Donbas region.
Intensified Russian shelling prompted the mayor of Kharkiv to urge residents of Ukraine's second-largest city to avoid, if possible, ground transportation.
"The last week has shown that the aggressor doesn't even pretend to be firing at military targets anymore," Ihor Terekhov wrote on the Telegram messaging app on Sunday. "Use the metro system more often — as of today it is the safest way to get around."
Ukraine's air force command said its forces had shot down early on Sunday three Russian Kalibr cruise missiles fired from the Black Sea and aimed at the western Khmelnytskyi region.
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