Russia unleashed a missile barrage against Odesa overnight, the largest in a string of almost daily strikes after Moscow pulled out of the UN-brokered safe transit deal for Ukrainian grain, which has been shipped from seaports in the Odesa region. The latest attack damaged port infrastructure, houses and other buildings and killing at least one person while wounding over a dozen, Ukraine’s southern military command said.
A total of 19 missiles were launched by Kremlin forces, with Ukraine’s air defense able to shoot down nine. The historic Orthodox Transfiguration Cathedral was among the buildings damaged. “There will definitely be a retaliation to Russian terrorists for Odesa. They will feel this retaliation,” President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Twitter post.
Zelenskiy spoke late Friday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he seeks to restart grain shipments after Moscow withdrew from the Black Sea safe-transit agreement. The US wants Erdogan’s government, which brokered the original deal along with the UN, to play a “leadership role” in prodding Russia back into the agreement, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday. The UK defense ministry said Russian ground forces have stepped up activity in the Luhansk and Kharkiv regions, “the possession of which Russia almost certainly considers one of its fundamental objectives of the war.”
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Wheat Slumps as Traders Shrug Off Ukraine Angst
Wheat futures fell more than 4% on Friday, taking a breather after surging about 11% over three days as traders focused on ample global supplies even amid continued tensions in the Black Sea.
Both Ukraine and Russia warned this week that ships headed to each other’s ports could be considered military targets, setting off alarm bells. Friday’s comments by Russia’s deputy foreign minister suggested the worst of the worries were overblown.