Russia puts Black Sea ships on alert after grain deal exit

Russia has warned any ships travelling to Ukraine through the Black Sea will be seen as potential military targets.

A resident examines the aftermath of a Russian strike on Odessa during which a missile landed in a cemetery. Picture: AFP

Russia has warned that any ships travelling to Ukraine through the Black Sea will be seen as potential military targets after the Kremlin withdrew from a deal to allow safe passage for grain exports.

Following a second night of strikes around the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa, President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of deliberately targeting grain export infrastructure and putting vulnerable countries at risk.

Kyiv urged other countries in the Black Sea region to intervene to assure the safe passage of cargo ships.

The effective closure of the sea route used to export Ukrainian grain to North Africa and the Middle East reignited fears among Ukraine’s European neighbours of being flooded with cheap grain.

The Russian defence ministry said all vessels sailing to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea would be regarded as potential carriers of military cargo and its flag states “will be considered to be involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime”.

The beginning of Moscow’s Ukraine campaign last year saw Black Sea ports blocked by warships until an agreement was brokered by the UN and Turkey.

The Kremlin said it was exiting the deal on Monday after months of complaining that a related agreement allowing the export of Russian food and fertilisers had not been honoured.

Moscow also accused Ukraine of using the Black Sea grain corridor for “combat purposes”.

A senior US security official said on Wednesday (Thursday AEST) that Russia was considering attacking civilian ships on the Black Sea and blaming Kyiv.

National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge cited Russia’s release of a video showing its forces destroying an “alleged Ukrainian sea mine”.

“Our information indicates that Russia laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports,” he said, adding the allegation was based on newly declassified intelligence.

“We believe that this is a co-ordinated effort to justify any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea and lay blame on Ukraine for these attacks.”

The Russian army later said in a statement it had hit “military industrial facilities, infrastructure for fuel, and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian armed forces near the city of Odessa”.

But Kyiv said the strikes had destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain waiting to be exported to China.

“Everyone is affected by Russian terror,” Mr Zelensky said. “Everybody in the world must be interested in bringing Russia to justice for this terror.”

As news of the strikes emerged, wheat prices on the European stock exchange soared, jumping 8.2 per cent.

The deal had enabled the export of more than 32 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain over the last year, bringing relief to countries facing critical food shortages such as Afghanistan, Sudan and Yemen.

With the strikes in Odessa, Russian President Vladimir Putin “is robbing the world of any hope of Ukrainian grain”, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.

But in a government meeting late on Wednesday, Mr Putin accused the West of using the grain deal as “political blackmail”, saying the agreement “has lost all meaning”.

He added he would consider rejoining the agreement only “if all principles under which Russia agreed to participate in the deal are fully taken into account and fulfilled”.

Ukraine’s European neighbours urged the EU to extend a grain import ban until the end of the year, amid fears local farmers would be undercut by diverted Ukrainian supplies.

In June, Brussels agreed to allow Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania to restrict imports of grain from Ukraine until September.

Meanwhile, the US announced a new $US1.3bn ($1.9bn) aid package for Ukraine, featuring air defence systems, anti-tank missiles and drones.

AFP