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For weeks, all the main Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea have been effectively blocked, due to continuous Russian attacks that have interrupted their regular operation, preventing merchant ships from leaving or arriving. The most worrying situation is that of Odessa, the largest and most important Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, in whose silos it is estimated that millions of tons of wheat and corn are crammed waiting to be shipped all over the world.
Of the situation of the port of Odessa spoke on Monday the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, who was visiting the city. “I’ve seen silos full of wheat and corn, ready for export. It is food that is very much needed but which is blocked due to the Russian war and the blockade of the Black Sea ports, and which is causing dramatic consequences for the most vulnerable countries “, referring to all those countries that are enormously dependent on Ukrainian agricultural production, and which in the coming months may find themselves lacking the necessary resources. “We need a global response,” said Michel in this regard.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also spoke about the blockade of the port of Odessa, who in his daily speech to the nation said that already now the missed exports of Ukraine are leaving dozens of countries “on the verge of lack of food” and that the situation could still worsen and become “frightening”. Zelensky said that in the port of Odessa now not even a ship in motion can be seen, like «pit probably hadn’t happened since the Second World War. “
Meanwhile, also in Odessa, Russian attacks intensified: on Monday a total of seven missiles were launched, which hit two hotels and a shopping center, where a vast fire developed that was extinguished only after many hours into the night between Monday and Tuesday. At the moment the attacks have caused at least one death and 5 injuries. Ukrainian authorities said that three missiles were launched in Odessa on Monday ipersonici Kinzhal.
Already in the early afternoon of Monday there was a Russian attack in Odessa, which occurred while in the city an interview was underway between Charles Michel and the Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmygal, who were forced to take refuge in a bunker together.
Several injured in strikes on southern port city of Odesa tonight. Air-raid sirens are off now. pic.twitter.com/Qc3j0pSYm7
– Anelise Borges (@AnneliseBorges) May 9, 2022
The first attacks were made while Russia was celebrating the Victory Dayone of the most important national holidays in the country, which commemorates the surrender of the Nazis in 1945. The main event of the celebrations was the speech by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Moscow’s Red Square: many feared that he might formally declare war to Ukraine, but in the end it was not (the Russian regime says it has launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine).
In addition, fighting continued between Sunday and Monday in various cities in eastern Ukraine, where the Russian army is trying to advance to gain total control of the Donbass region. There were bombings against civilian buildings in the city of Bakhmut, where at least one person was killed, and in Kostiantynivka, where two were killed.
– Read also: The European Union is struggling to agree on Russian oil
The battle for the conquest of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol, a city in the south-east of Ukraine which has been under Russian control for several days, is also continuing. The Azovstal plant, which is huge and has vast underground passages, has sheltered hundreds of Ukrainian civilians for weeks: Sunday women, children and the elderly had been evacuated and from the first information it had seemed that the rescue operations had ended. However, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday that, in addition to Ukrainian soldiers from the Azov regiment, there would be about 100 other civilians, all adult males, inside the plant.
1 killed, 5 wounded as Russia fired 7 missiles at Odesa with use of aviation, destroying a shopping mall & depot of produce – Operational Command South (📷)
Earlier, Odesa city council said, citing OCS, that strike was made with Kindzhal-type missiles fired from Tu-22 pic.twitter.com/k9wUbH2SNK
– Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) May 9, 2022
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