Russia Hits Grain Ports and Threatens Ships Headed to Ukraine

As Russia resumes its blockade of ships carrying food from Ukraine, its military bombarded Odesa and an adjoining port late Tuesday and early Wednesday — specifically targeting the ability to export grain, Ukrainian officials said.

Hours later, Russia’s Ministry of Defense issued a warning to ship operators and other nations suggesting that any attempt to bypass the blockade might be seen as an act of war.

As of midnight, “all ships en route to Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo,” it said in a statement. “Accordingly, the flag countries of such vessels will be considered involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime.” The ministry added that even parts of the Black Sea in international waters “have been declared temporarily dangerous for navigation.”

Ukrainian officials accused Russia of using food as leverage in the war, in an attempt to extend Ukraine’s pain to the rest of the globe.

“The night strike knocked out a significant part of the grain export infrastructure of the port of Chornomorsk,” just south of Odesa, Mykola Solskyi, Ukraine’s agriculture minister, said in a statement, adding that experts estimated the damage would take at least a year to repair. In Chornomorsk, just south of Odesa, “60,000 tons of grain were also destroyed, which was supposed to be loaded on a large-tonnage ship” and shipped out two months ago, he added.

Moscow on Monday pulled out of a U.N.-brokered agreement that had allowed Ukraine to export grain across the Black Sea for the past year, helping alleviate global shortages and price spikes. Russia’s navy has prevented all other shipping from entering or leaving Ukrainian ports, and Russian authorities have inspected grain ships to ensure that they were not carrying military equipment.