Moscow: After Russia claimed that its navy had conducted a live fire exercise there after declaring that ships heading to Ukraine would be considered potential military targets, the United Nations issued a warning on Friday about escalating military action in the Black Sea.
For the fourth night in a row, Moscow's forces attacked the Black Sea port of Odesa, officials reported, hitting grain silos. Senior representative for political affairs Rosemary DiCarlo said in a statement to the UN Security Council, of which Russia is a member, "Threats to target civilian vessels in the Black Sea are unacceptable."
Russia has been attacking the grain supplies and essential infrastructure in the Western-backed nation's southern ports, including Odesa and Mykolaiv, after pulling out of an agreement that enabled the safe shipment of grain from Ukraine.
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Regional governor Oleg Kiper claimed that "the Russians attacked Odesa with Kalibr cruise missiles from the Black Sea." Kiper reported that Moscow attacked nearby grain silos and "destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons of barley," adding that two people were hurt.
According to Antonio Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, the impact of such attacks went far beyond Ukraine. Guterres stated in a statement that "we are already seeing the negative effect on global wheat and corn prices which hurts everyone, but especially vulnerable people in the global south."
The attacks on Odesa were denounced by UNESCO, the UN agency for science and culture, who noted that a preliminary assessment "revealed damage to several museums inside the World Heritage property."
This week, following a Ukrainian attack that killed two people and damaged a bridge connecting Russia and the annexation of Crimea, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed to exact revenge.
A boat "carried out live firing of anti-ship cruise missiles at the target ship" in the western Black Sea, according to the defense ministry in Moscow. The ministry declared in a statement that the missile strike "destroyed the target ship." Additionally, the ministry stated that ships and fleet aviation had "planned actions to isolate the area temporarily closed to navigation and also carried out a set of measures to detain the offending ship." Additionally, a joint exercise between the navies of China and Russia was conducted in the Sea of Japan.
According to the Kremlin, cargo ships traveling through the Black Sea to reach Ukraine could be potential military targets.
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Additionally, Ukraine has warned that starting on Friday, it may view ships going to Russian ports as carrying "military cargo, with all the risks associated." Following Moscow's withdrawal from the agreement, Ukraine has previously stated that it would be prepared to resume grain exports from its southern ports.
Kyiv has urged the UN and nearby nations to conduct joint patrols to ensure the safety of cargo.
Vadym Prystaiko, the Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom, was fired by Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv after he criticized the president's handling of a dispute involving British military aid.
After criticizing Zelensky's sarcastic response to British defense minister Ben Wallace's suggestions that Ukraine should be more appreciative of the arms supplied by its allies, Prystaiko was fired.
Wallace said to journalists at a NATO summit in Vilnius earlier this month that Britain is not an Amazon delivery service for weapons to Ukraine and that Kyiv could express more "gratitude." This sparked a disagreement.
At a press conference in response, Zelensky said he was at a loss for words to express Ukraine's gratitude. He said, "We could get up in the morning and personally express our words of gratitude to the minister.
The White House reported that Ukrainian forces have started using cluster munitions supplied by the United States on the battlefield as Kyiv looks to gain momentum in its arduous counteroffensive.
As Ukraine tries to push back firmly established Russian forces and reclaim territory lost in the first few months of Moscow's military operation last year, Washington provided the weapons to Ukraine for the first time earlier this month.
The weapons are prohibited in many nations due to the long-term dangers they pose to civilians. They can disperse up to several hundred small explosive charges, some of which may stay undetonated on the ground.
Over a month into Kyiv's counteroffensive, large portions of the front appear to be frozen, indicating that Moscow's forces are well-entrenched across large swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine.
Despite the new weapons, Russian strikes on Friday killed several civilians in north and eastern towns, according to local authorities. Russian shelling killed a 10-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister in the village of Druzhba in the eastern Donetsk region, according to regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko on Telegram.
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Vyacheslav Tchaous, the governor of the northern Cherniguiv region, reported that two more people perished when a cultural center was hit. In a televised address on Friday, Putin praised the Russian military and noted that Ukrainian troops were suffering "enormous losses" and that their counteroffensive was not yielding "any results."
One of the president's top aides in Kyiv told AFP this week that the operation would be "long and difficult."