Russian strikes on Ukrainian port areas continued Thursday, local authorities said, after Moscow warned that ships heading to Ukraine's Black Sea ports could be considered military targets.
As concerns grew over Russia pulling out of a deal that has protected global shipments of Ukrainian grain, authorities in the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions reported some 20 people injured in the strikes.
Thought it expired on Monday, Türkiye is still working hard to ensure the continuation of last year's landmark Black Sea grain deal, the country's National Defense Ministry said on Thursday.
"The whole world attaches great importance to maintenance of the grain deal. It is clear that the agreement, which was established through joint efforts, plays a vital role in tackling the global food crisis," a National Defense Ministry official told reporters at a background briefing in the capital Ankara.
With Russia's exit from the year-old threatening to worsen global food supplies, Ukraine said on Wednesday it was establishing a temporary shipping route via Romania, a neighboring Black Sea country.
"Its goal is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the north-western part of the Black Sea," Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine's acting minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in a letter to the U.N.'s International Shipping Organization.
Ukraine and Russia are among the world's top grain exporters. U.S. wheat futures jumped 8.5% on Wednesday, their biggest daily gain since days after Russia's Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of its neighbor.
Russia warned that from Thursday any ships traveling to Ukraine's Black Sea ports will be seen as possibly carrying military cargoes.
Russia's Defense Ministry said flag states of ships traveling to Ukrainian ports would be considered parties to the conflict on Ukraine's side.
In a statement on the Telegram messaging app, it said the move would start at midnight Moscow time (2100 GMT Wednesday).
The Defense Ministry did not say what actions it might take.
Russia was also declaring southeastern and northwestern parts of the Black Sea's international waters to be temporarily unsafe for navigation, the ministry said, without giving details about the parts of the sea which would be affected.
"It underscores that we're trying to work and continue to work in what is effectively a warzone," U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said on Wednesday when asked about the Russian warning.
After the last ship left Ukraine on Sunday under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia attacked the Odesa region on Monday and Tuesday nights. The region's three ports had been the only ones operating in Ukraine under the grain deal.
Grains terminals and an industrial facility, warehouses, shopping malls, residential and administrative buildings and cars were damaged on Tuesday night, Ukrainian officials said.
Ukraine's southern military command said Russia had used supersonic missiles, including the Kh-22 that was designed to take out aircraft carriers, to hit Odesa's port infrastructure.
"In the ports that were attacked there was about a million tons of food stored," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Wednesday. "It is precisely that amount that should already have been delivered to consumer countries in Africa and Asia.
"In the terminal damaged the most from Russian terror tonight, 60,000 tons of agricultural products were stored, intended for shipment to China," Zelenskiy said.
Early on Thursday, at least 18 people were wounded in the strike on the port city of Mykolaiv, the regional governor said, while an Odesa official said two people had been hospitalized after a strike caused a fire.
Reuters could not independently verify the Ukrainian claims.
U.S. officials have information showing Russia laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports in what appeared to be "a coordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks," said White House National Security Council spokesperson Adam Hodge.
Russia did not immediately comment on the U.S. assertion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Western countries of "perverting" the grain deal, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Wednesday said Russia's exit from the deal threatens to worsen global food insecurity and could increase food prices, especially in poor countries.
Insurers were already reviewing their appetite for covering ships into Ukraine.
A cargo insurance facility providing cover for Ukraine grain shipments traveling under the Black Sea deal has been suspended, the policy's broker told Reuters on Tuesday. The marine cargo and war facility provided the cover of up to $50 million per cargo.
Norwegian shipping insurance group DNK, which provides war risk policies, told Reuters on Wednesday it was currently unable to provide cover for Ukraine.
Putin said Russia would immediately return to the pact if Moscow's conditions were met, easing curbs on its exports of food and fertilizer. Western countries call this an attempt to leverage food supplies to weaken financial sanctions, which still allow Russia to sell food.
Away from the ports, fighting continued on Wednesday in eastern and southern Ukraine where Kyiv's counteroffensive is trying to reclaim territory occupied by Russian forces. The Russians have dug into a heavily fortified front line.
In Washington, the Pentagon announced additional security assistance for Ukraine, totaling about $1.3 billion, with the package including air defense capabilities and munitions.
In Brussels, European Union foreign ministers are expected to discuss a proposal on Thursday to spend up to 20 billion euros ($22 billion) on weapons, ammunition and other military aid for Ukraine over four years.
