MOSCOW: Russia confirmed firing missiles at Odesa, but insisted the targets were only military facilities. “Kalibr missiles destroyed Odesa port’s military infrastructure” including a “Ukrainian military boat,” said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Sunday.
The defense ministry said the attack also destroyed a warehouse where US-supplied Harpoon anti-ship missiles were kept. According to media, the strike also crippled a ship repair facility. The Saturday strike came only one day after Ukraine and Russia agreed to allow export of grain in a UN-brokered initiative. The deal was struck with the help of Turkey, who said on Saturday that Russia denied attacking the Odesa port. The port is crucial for any grain export from Ukraine.
Speaking to reporters on a flight from Rome to Canada Sunday, Pope Francis said he had a “great desire to go to Kyiv” to try and bring an end to the five-month-long war.
The pontiff told media earlier this month that he hopes to visit Kyiv and Moscow after his trip to Canada.
No pope has ever visited Moscow. Pope Francis has condemned what he has called Moscow’s “cruel and senseless war of aggression” in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the reported missile strikes on the Black Sea port of Odesa and said they undermined Russia’s political position.
“This apparent Russian barbarism brings us even closer to obtaining the very weapons we need for our victory,” Zelenskyy said, Ukraine’s president accused Moscow of shelling the port of Odesa a day after an agreement for the export of Ukrainian grain was signed in Istanbul. –Agencies
