Ukraine continued efforts on Sunday to restart grain exports from Odessa and other Black Sea ports after a missile attack raised doubts about whether Russia would stick to a deal aimed at alleviating the global food shortage crisis caused by the war, while Moscow said it targeted a military boat in the port. .
Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kobrakov said on Facebook that preparations for the resumption of grain shipments were underway. "We are continuing technical preparations for the resumption of exports of agricultural products from our ports," he added.
The official Ukrainian TV channel Sospilen quoted the Ukrainian military as saying that the missiles did not cause significant damage to the port.
Sospilen TV later quoted a spokeswoman for the Southern Military Command of Ukraine, Natalia Homenyuk, as saying that the port's grain storage area had not been bombed.
The Ukrainian army had announced that its air defenses had shot down - yesterday - a number of Russian missiles in the sky of Odessa, and said that the two missiles that targeted the port hit a grain shipping station, but he stressed that the damage was limited.
The governor of Odessa also confirmed the injury of a number of people as a result of the bombing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attacks on Odessa as "blatant barbarism" that proves that Moscow cannot be trusted to implement the Turkey-brokered UN-brokered Istanbul deal for the export of Ukrainian grain.
On the other hand, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said - on Sunday - that Russian forces bombed a Ukrainian military boat in the port of Odessa, Ukraine, with high-precision missiles.
Russian State Duma member Yevgeny Popov also confirmed that the Russian army bombed what he described as the military infrastructure in Odessa.
During an interview with Al Jazeera, Popov emphasized that the Russian bombing had never targeted merchant ships in the port or any other civilian sites.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar had said that he had contacted Russian officials, and they denied any connection to the bombing that targeted the port of Odessa.
Akar also made a phone call to his Ukrainian counterpart, stressing that Ankara will continue to fulfill its obligations regarding the agreement and will work to implement it as soon as possible.
Field Developments
On the ground, the Ukrainian army said that its forces were able to cut off supplies of heavy weapons and armored vehicles to Russian forces in the southern Kherson province.
The Ukrainian army added that this would contribute to the success of the counterattack of its forces on more than one place and location.
The Ukrainian army announced the killing of 45 Russian soldiers and the destruction of Grad missile systems, an ammunition depot and an ammunition supply point during the implementation of 6 strikes on Russian sites in Kherson.
In the Kharkiv province (northeast), mutual shelling continues between Ukrainian and Russian forces along the burning front.
The Ukrainian forces use artillery shells and missiles to bombard the positions of the Russian forces in the east of the province, where their units operate secretly.
The Ukrainian army also announced the targeting of a railway track in Zaporozhye that was used to transport Russian equipment, and said that its air defenses had shot down 3 Russian cruise missiles launched from the Black Sea.