Kremlin believes missile strikes on port of Odesa are no reason not to export grain

EUROPEAN PRAVDA — MONDAY, 25 JULY 2022, 14:27

The Kremlin has said that the missile attack on the port of Odesa was aimed at military infrastructure and in no way affects the arrangements for the export of grain.

This was reported by Interfax, according to European Pravda.

"This is connected exclusively with military infrastructure; it is in no way connected with the infrastructure used to implement the agreements and export grain. Therefore, something like this should in no way affect the start of the shipment process," said Dmitry Peskov, spokesman for the President of the Russian Federation.

That is how he responded when asked by journalists whether this strike "jeopardises" the implementation of the grain agreement.

Earlier, The New York Times reported that according to a top official at the United Nations, Russia’s missile attack on the port of Odesa "may not have technically violated" the agreements signed in Istanbul on unblocking the sea export of grain from Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for its part, said that the UN had distanced itself from the unnamed official’s comment that the Russians supposedly had the right to fire on the port of Odesa if the targets are not involved in grain exports.

It should be remembered that after Russia fired Kalibr missiles at the port of Odesa on the morning of 23 July, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres made a statement in which he unconditionally condemned the attack.

The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, called the rocket attack on the port of Odesa outrageous, saying that the Kremlin continues to use food as a weapon.

The EU and a number of individual member states have condemned the attack. 

More details about the grain agreements signed in Istanbul can be found in this new European Pravda video and in this article: Istanbul as "Minsk": what Russia will receive from the West in the "grain agreement" and outside of it.