The Russian missile attack on Odesa, which damaged the grain terminal on 19 July 2023, also destroyed a huge portion of the grain, Ukraine's president Volodomyr Zelenkyy said in his evening address. In particular, 60,000 tons of grain waiting for shipping to China were destroyed.
In total, 1 million tons of food was temporarily stored in the port warehouses. Had all Russian missiles hit their targets, more food could be destroyed. Countries in Asia and Africa couldn't receive food supplies in time and now can be deprived of part of them at all due to Russian actions, Zelenskyy stressed:
"This attack by terrorists proves that their target is not only Ukraine, not only the lives of our people... In the ports that were attacked today, about a million tons of food were stored... Exactly the amount that should have been delivered to countries in Africa and Asia a long time ago... In the port terminal, which suffered the most from Russian terror that night, 60,000 tons of agricultural products intended for shipment to China were stored... That is, Russian terror affects everyone. Everyone in the world should be interested in holding Russia accountable for terror."
Russia also launched a new wave of attack against the Ukrainian port cities of Odesa and Mykolayiv on 20 July 2023, which hit residential and administrative buildings, wounding at least 22 civilians.
Russia attacks two Ukrainian port cities amid withdrawal from “grain deal”
