KYIV (Reuters) – Russia intentionally struck grain terminals and port infrastructure in Odesa in its latest air strikes, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser said on Wednesday.
Political adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that the attacks on Ukraine’s main Black Sea port reflected Russia’s attitude towards food security.
“The main objective is to destroy the possibility of shipping Ukrainian grain,” he said after Russia attacked Odesa port for the second successive night.
Russia quit a deal allowing the safe passage of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea on Monday, a move that raised concerns in Africa and Asia about rising food prices and hunger.
The deal was brokered by the U.N. and Turkey in July last year to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and a blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Andriy Yermak, head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, called for tighter international sanctions on Moscow and more military aid to Ukraine.
“The Russian terror of Odesa proves once again that they need hunger and problems in the countries of the Global South. They want to create a refugee crisis for the West,” Yermak said on the Telegram messaging app.
“Everything is done to weaken allies and intervene politically in the internal affairs of these countries.”
(Reporting by Anna Pruchnicka, Writing by Olena Harmash, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
