Ukraine says Russian strike on Odesa port is attack on global food security

Ukraine's foreign minister said on Wednesday that Russia's missile strike on the Black Sea port of Odesa, which damaged a grain vessel and killed four people, was an attack on global food security.

"It demonstrates how close this war is to Algeria, Syria, and other countries," Andrii Sybiha said on X, adding that the vessel was supposed to deliver wheat to Algeria.

A ballistic missile struck the MJ Pinar bulk carrier that was loading wheat for Algeria, killing four Syrian nationals and injuring one other Syrian and a Ukrainian, Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said on Telegram on Wednesday.

Global grain merchant Louis Dreyfus Company said in an emailed statement that the vessel had been loading at its Brooklyn-Kiev terminal at Odesa port, with terminal infrastructure also damaged.

LDC said its terminal employees were safe, with the dead among the crew of the chartered vessel.

Ukraine, like Russia, is a major grain exporter. It has managed to re-establish large-scale maritime exports during the war, despite Russian strikes on ports.

Andriy Klymenko from the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies, said Russia would continue attacks on Ukrainian ports.

"(We) predicted and warned... that Russia would continue and intensify its attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea and Danube ports in an attempt to stop the operation of the maritime corridor and simultaneously create conditions for increasing its own maritime grain exports," Klymenko said on Facebook.

He said that in the January-October period last year there were at least 113 Russian attacks recorded on the port, energy and other infrastructure in the Odesa region, which includes the sea corridor.

"At the end of 2024, for the first time, 7 foreign vessels were damaged as a result of these attacks," he noted.

The Ukrainian sea corridor has been operating since autumn 2023. As of December 3,500 vessels have exported 93.3 million metric tons of cargo via the route.