Ukraine announces destruction of 60 thousand tons of grain in a Russian strike on Odessa

 Russian Ministry of Defense said that it launched a large-scale strike with high-precision air and sea weapons on the positions of the Ukrainian forces near the port of Odesa in southwestern Ukraine, while Kyiv announced that the strike that destroyed 60,000 tons of grain was a "deliberate targeting" of the Ukrainian grain export sites.

Kyiv indicated that this strike, which comes 3 days after the expiry of the grain export agreement across the Black Sea signed between Russia and Ukraine with Turkish mediation, once again proves Moscow's intention to create a "global hunger crisis" and attempt to weaken the allies.

 Russian strike on Odesa came as the Kremlin accused the West of turning a blind eye to what it said were "terrorist attacks" committed by Ukraine inside Russia, referring to the "silence" that followed a massive attack on the Crimean bridge this week, as well as an attack on a military training ground and air base on the peninsula.

Kyiv said that Russian forces targeted Odesa and other Ukrainian cities with more than 30 missiles, while Moscow said that it had struck military facilities at night near the port of Odesa.

The Russian army said - in a statement - "During the night, the Russian armed forces carried out a series of strikes with long-range, precision-guided air weapons against military-industrial facilities, fuel infrastructure, and ammunition depots belonging to the Ukrainian armed forces near the city of Odesa."

A statement by the Ukrainian Air Force indicated that Russian planes targeted the Odesa region with missiles, in addition to the flight of swarms of drones over the city.

Ukrainian presidency said that the Russian strike deliberately targeted grain terminals to destroy the possibility of shipping Ukrainian grain.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said - in a post on his Telegram - that "Russian terrorists deliberately targeted the infrastructure of the grain agreement," adding that he wanted to "strengthen the protection of people and infrastructure in the ports" of the country to counter these strikes.

In his statement, Zelensky specifically mentioned the regions of Odesa and Zhytomyr (west) as being targeted by Russian strikes.

On the ground, the Russian military website, Ribar, said that the Russian forces made significant progress in the Kobyansk axis at the borders of Luhansk and Kharkiv provinces, as well as in the Marinka axis, west of Donetsk.

The website added that the Ukrainian army sent additional reinforcements to the two axes in an attempt to maintain its positions.

On the other hand, a spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff, Andrei Kovalev, announced that Russian advance attempts had been repelled in the Kobyansk and Liman regions of Kharkiv and Donetsk provinces.

Kovalev added that the Ukrainian forces continue their offensive operations in the vicinity of Bakhmut and inflicted losses on the ranks of the Russian forces, as he put it.

On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense said today, Wednesday, that its forces destroyed a Ukrainian mine in the southwestern Black Sea.

The ministry added that the Russian fleet in the Black Sea discovered the mine while it was floating about 180 km from the Bosphorus Strait.

Source: Agencies