MOSCOW: The UN warned on Friday of escalating military actions in the Black Sea after Moscow said its Navy conducted a live fire drill there, having declared that vessels traveling to Ukraine would be considered possible military targets. Officials said Russian troops struck the Black Sea port of Odesa for a fourth night in a row, hitting grain stores.
Russian Navy Conducts Live Fire Drill in Black Sea
Speaking to the UNSC, a senior representative for political affairs, Rosemary DiCarlo, said: “Threats to attack civilian ships in the Black Sea are not acceptable.” In a statement, regional governor Oleg Kiper said, “The Russian forces attacked Odesa with cruise missiles from the Black Sea.”
Russia targeted local grain stores and “destroyed hundred tons of peas and twenty tons of barley,” Kiper said, saying two people were wounded.
UN chief Antonio Guterres said the effect of such assaults went well beyond Ukraine. In a statement, Guterres said they were already seeing the negative impact on global food prices, which hurts everyone, but particularly vulnerable individuals in the global south.
UNESCO denounced the attacks on Odesa, adding that a preliminary valuation “revealed harm to several museums inside the World Heritage property.
Earlier, Russian President Putin vowed to exact revenge after a Ukrainian assault damaged a bridge linking annexed Crimea to Russia and killed two persons.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that a ship “conducted live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target vessel” in the northwestern area of the Black Sea. It added that the target vessel was destroyed as a result of a missile attack.
Earlier, Moscow pulled out of a United Nations (UN) agreement on Monday that ensured safe passage for grain consignments crossing the Black Sea.
