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Ukraine is pushing ahead with efforts to resume grain exports from its Black Sea ports under a deal aimed at easing global food shortages.
But Ukrainian authorities warned that the operation would be jeopardized if Russia’s missile attack on the Odesa port a day earlier was a warning sign of similar attacks in the future.
Ukrainian public broadcaster “Suspilne” quoted the Ukrainian military as saying that the Russian missiles had not hit the grain storage area of the port and had not caused significant damage. Based on this fact, Kiev announced that it was preparing to resume grain shipments.
“We continue technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports“, wrote the Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov in a post on Facebook.
Russia announced on Sunday that its forces had hit a Ukrainian warship and a weapons depot in Odesa with missiles.
The agreement signed by Moscow and Kiev on Friday in Istanbul was hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough that would help curb rising global food prices. UN officials said that thanks to the agreement, Ukrainian grain shipments could reach pre-war levels of 5 million tons of grain per month.
But President Zelenskiy’s economic adviser, Oleh Ustenko, warned on Sunday that the Odesa attack signaled that this would be an unattainable goal.
He said that Ukraine had the capacity to export 60 million tons of wheat over the next nine months, but if its ports do not function properly, it would take up to 24 months./Voa
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