
The agreement between Russia and Ukraine to allow the transport of food grains in the middle of the crisis was welcomed by nations all around the world. With the supply chain suffering due to the invasion, a number of countries faced food shortages and it looked like there will some respite after almost five months of constant conflict. However, the attack of the port of Odessa heightened tensions between the two countries once again. Ukraine has criticised the attacks, but they believe that they will be able to resume the grain exports according to the agreed deal this week.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was vocal in his criticism of the attack as he termed it “barbarism” on their end. But the Russian defence ministry denied any involvements.
Following the attack, there were doubts on whether Ukraine will be able to fulfil their commitments, but a senior official said that the first shipments are expected to leave this week.
"We believe that over the next 24 hours we will be ready to work to resume exports from our ports. We are talking about the port of Chornomorsk, it will be the first, then there will be Odessa, then the port of Pivdeny," deputy infrastructure minister Yuriy Vaskov told a news conference.
Reports from Ukraine claimed that the Russian missiles targeted a granary near the Odessa port, but Kremlin made it clear that the attack was conducted keeping military targets in mind.
"They are in no way related to infrastructure that is used for the export of grain. This should not affect - and will not affect - the beginning of shipments," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.