A Caliber Cruise missile is being launched from Russia’s Black Sea Fleet on the 19th (local time). Black Sea/AP Yonhap News
A Russian missile strike destroys a food warehouse in the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa, the Ukrainian military said on Monday.
Ukrainian forces claim that Russian forces have fired 14 missiles in southern Ukraine in three hours.
Ukraine controls Odessa, but the Black Sea port is blocked by Russian forces. Russia has focused on occupying Odessa to cut off Ukrainian military supplies.
The port of Odessa is a major route for export of wheat and other grains, and the global food crisis is exacerbated by Russia’s lockdown. There are concerns that an attack on food warehouses could further delay grain exports.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech to the African Union on the same day that “fear of famine is spreading across the African continent as the Russian maritime blockade has blocked Ukrainian grain exports.”
Earlier, Sergei Akshonov, the head of the Crimean Republic annexed to Russia in 2014, claimed that Ukrainian forces attacked three gas field platforms owned by the republic in the Black Sea waters near Odessa.
Akshonov said three people were injured and seven people were missing. It is known that 109 people were working on the platform.
After allegations of a platform attack, a Russian attack on a food warehouse in Odessa followed.
