On Saturday, Moscow denied to Ankara any involvement in the strikes that hit the port, crucial for the resumption of grain exports.
The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy said on Sunday July 24 that Russian missiles had destroyed military infrastructure the day before in the port of Odessa, vital for the export of Ukrainian cereals.
“Kalibr missiles destroyed military infrastructure of the port of Odessa, with a high-precision strike“Wrote Maria Zakharova on her Telegram account, in response to a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that these strikes had destroyed the possibility of a dialogue or an agreement with Moscow.
“High Precision Strike”
“A factory for the repair and modernization of Ukrainian army ships was also put out of use“, continued the ministry, in a press release published on its Telegram account. Earlier in the day, the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, had affirmed that a “military starUkrainian had been destroyed during this strike.
“Kalibr missiles destroyed military infrastructure of the port of Odessa, with a high-precision strikeshe wrote on Telegram, in response to a statement by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying the strikes had destroyed the possibility of dialogue or understanding with Moscow. Neither the Russian army, nor Maria Zakharova, provided any evidence to prove these statements. AFP was unable to confirm these announcements from an independent source.
Read alsoAgreement on grain exports between Kyiv and Moscow
After these fires on Odessa, Ukraine accused Vladimir Putin of havingspat in the faceof the UN and Turkey and jeopardize the application of the agreement signed on Friday on the resumption of grain exports blocked by the conflict.
On Saturday, Russia had however denied to Turkey that it had been involved in these strikes: “The Russians told us they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and were looking into the matter very closely.“, assured the Turkish Minister of Defense, Hulusi Akar.
According to spokesman of the Ukrainian Air Force, two missiles hit the port territory of Odessa, and two others were shot down by anti-aircraft defenses before reaching their target.
SEE ALSO — War in Ukraine: Strikes near Odessa are acts of ‘deliberate Russian terror’, says Zelensky