Serhii Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa military administration, said two missiles hit the port’s infrastructure and two were shot down by Ukraine’s air defenses.
At least six explosions were heard in Odessa, according to Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko.
It comes a day after ministers from Ukraine and Russia – brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul – signed a deal to allow grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in a bid to ease the war-triggered global food crisis.
“That’s all you need to know about doing business with Russia,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas added on Twitter. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell said the bloc “strongly condemns” the attack.
“The hitting of a key grain export target a day after the Istanbul Accords were signed is particularly reprehensible and demonstrates once again Russia’s total disregard for international law and obligations,” Borrell wrote on Twitter on Saturday.
“Russia approved a deal on grain exports, but immediately attacked it – showing it wants to continue threatening the world’s food security,” Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko said in an interview with CNN on Saturday.
“There will be new campaigns where [Putin] will definitely attack Odessa, and the only answer in the world is to give arms to Ukraine – finally to give Ukraine long-range missiles, fighters. And this is the only answer to this aggression by Putin and the restoration of international order,” he said.
“Outrageous” attack
Friday’s deal vowed to open Black Sea ports to allow safe passage of grain and oilseeds — some of Ukraine’s key exports.
Russia has so far blocked sea access to these ports, meaning millions of tons of Ukrainian grain have not been exported to the many countries that depend on it.
“Today there is a beacon on the Black Sea. A beacon of hope – a beacon of opportunity – a beacon of relief – in a world that needs it more than ever,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday at the signing ceremony attended by Ukrainian and Russian ministers.
But Saturday’s attack prompted anger and concern about the future of that deal.
“That’s all you need to know about ‘deals’ with the Russians. Explosions in #Odessa seaport. A day after signing the agreement with #Turkey and the #UN on exports of #grain from #Ukraine, under which #Russia has pledged not to shell the port,” Ukrainian MP Solomiia Bobrovska tweeted.
Brachuk has advised residents to stay in temporary shelters during the air raid alerts.
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget A. Brink called the Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odessa “outrageous”.
Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Saturday Russia claims it had “nothing to do” with the attacks.
“The Russians sort of told us they had nothing to do with this attack. They are monitoring the situation very closely and in detail,” Akar said in a video statement.
“We were really concerned that such an event happened after we signed the Grain Transportation Agreement. We are concerned too. But we continue to fulfill our responsibilities in relation to this agreement and have also expressed in our meetings that we are for the parties to continue their cooperation here calmly and patiently,” said Akar, who represented Turkey at the signing of the grain agreement on Friday represented in Istanbul.
Akar also said Turkey received information about the attacks from Ukraine and “then we talked by phone with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, with whom we were already in contact.”
“They explained that one of the rocket attacks hit one of the silos there and the other fell in an area near the silo, but the most important thing is that there is no problem with the loading capacity and the capability of the docks. and that activities there can continue,” he said.