Strike At Odessa Port’s Military Sites To Have No Impact On Grain Shipments, Kremlin Says

Dmitry Peskov noted that the strike had nothing to do with the infrastructure involved in fulfilling the accords and grain shipments

The Russian army’s strike at the Odessa port’s military infrastructure cannot have any impact on the start of grain shipments under the Istanbul accords, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

“This [the strike] is related solely to the military infrastructure. This has nothing to do with the infrastructure involved in fulfilling the accords and grain shipments. That is why, this cannot and will not affect the start of the shipment process,” the Russian presidential spokesman said.

Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov earlier reported that Russian forces had delivered a strike by precision weapons against the premises of the ship repair plant in Odessa, destroying a warship in the dock and a depot of US-supplied Harpoon missiles. The strike incapacitated the enterprise’s production capacities for the repair and upgrade of the Ukrainian Navy’s ships, the general added.

A package of documents was signed in Istanbul on July 22 to facilitate the export of food and mineral fertilizer to world markets. The Russia-UN memorandum stipulates that the United Nations will join the efforts to lift anti-Russian restrictions for the exportation of agricultural output and mineral fertilizer to global markets.