Ukraine says Russian strike on ship in Odesa port is attack on global food security
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
A Russian ballistic missile struck a bulk carrier that was loading wheat for Algeria, killing four Syrian nationals.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
KYIV – Ukraine’s Foreign Minister said on March 12 that Russia’s missile strike on the Black Sea port of Odesa, which damaged a grain vessel and killed four Syrians, was an attack on global food security.
“It demonstrates how close this war is to Algeria, Syria and other countries,” Mr Andrii Sybiha said on X, adding that the vessel was supposed to deliver wheat to Algeria.
A ballistic missile struck the MJ Pinar bulk carrier
Global grain merchant Louis Dreyfus Company (LDC) said in an e-mailed statement that the vessel had been loading at its Brooklyn-Kiev terminal at Odesa port, with terminal infrastructure also damaged.
LDC said its terminal employees were safe, with the dead among the crew of the chartered vessel.
Ukraine, like Russia, is a major grain exporter. It has managed to re-establish large-scale maritime exports
Mr Andriy Klymenko from the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies said Russia would continue attacks on Ukrainian ports.
“(We) predicted and warned... that Russia would continue and intensify its attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea and Danube ports in an attempt to stop the operation of the maritime corridor and simultaneously create conditions for increasing its own maritime grain exports,” Mr Klymenko said on Facebook.
He said that in the January to October 2024 period there were at least 113 Russian attacks recorded on the port, energy and other infrastructure in the Odesa region, which includes the sea corridor.
“At the end of 2024, for the first time, seven foreign vessels were damaged as a result of these attacks,” he noted.
The Ukrainian sea corridor
As at December 2024, 3,500 vessels have exported 93.3 million tonnes of cargo via the route. REUTERS
