Ukraine Proceeds To Implement Grain Deal Despite Attack On Odesa, Shelling Of Numerous Towns

Ukraine's military reported Russian shelling in numerous locations in the north, south, and east on July 24 after Ukraine said it would press ahead with plans to restart grain exports from Black Sea ports despite a Russian attack on Odesa that Ukraine said raised questions about Russia's commitment to a deal signed two days ago to unblock the exports.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said Russian troops on July 24 continued attempts to take control of a power plant in Vuhlehirsk, located some 50 kilometers northeast of Donetsk. The plant is Ukraine's second-largest and a strategic infrastructure objective that Russian forces are keen to capture.

The General Staff said Russian forces retreated after another unsuccessful attempt to seize the plant.

"The enemy is losing personnel but stubbornly continues its attempts to establish control over the territory of the Vuhlehirskaya [power plant]," it said.

The General Staff said Ukrainian forces repelled a previous attempt to take control of the plant on July 22.

Yuriy Ignat, a spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces, said Ukrainian strike aircraft carried out missile attacks on three Russian strongholds, destroying equipment and killing troops.

Speaking on Ukrainian television, Ignat also said the antiaircraft defense functioned "perfectly," shooting down all four Russian Kalibr missiles flying from the Black Sea toward the Khmelnytskiy region.

Ukraine's air defense forces shot down three Russian missiles over the territory of the Khmelnytskiy region. Another missile was shot down by air defense forces of the southern air command, he said

The claims could not be independently verified.

Russia used two Kalibr missiles on July 23 to strike near a pumping station at the Odesa port, while two others were shot down by Ukrainian air-defense forces. A Ukrainian military official said the missiles were fired from a Russian warship in the Black Sea near the Russian-occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova acknowledged the missile strikes, saying on July 24 that they had destroyed “military infrastructure” at the Odesa port. She added without evidence that the “high-precision strike” had destroyed a Ukrainian Navy “patrol boat.”

Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said that despite the attack Ukraine continued technical preparations for the launch of exports of agricultural products from our ports.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called the missile strike “barbarism” and said it showed that Moscow could not be trusted to implement the grain-export agreement reached on July 22.

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In his nightly address on July 24, he said Ukraine will continue to do all it can to inflict as much damage on its enemy as possible.

"Even the occupiers admit we will win," he said as he hailed the upcoming day of Ukrainian statehood, July 28, a new annual holiday that Zelenskiy announced last year. "We hear it in their conversations all the time. In what they are telling their relatives when they call them."

Under the grain deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, exports of Ukrainian grain from three Black Sea ports would be restored to prewar levels of some 5 million tons a month.

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The missile strikes on Odesa appeared to violate the deal, under which Moscow would guarantee safe passage in and out of the ports. The deal would also free up exports of Russian grain and fertilizer.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a trip to Africa to reassure countries that the international agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea remains in place.

He told Egyptian leaders in Cairo that Russia "reaffirmed the commitment of Russian grain exporters to meet all their commitments."

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn, and sunflower oil, but Russia’s invasion of the country and its naval blockade of Ukrainian ports have halted shipments.

That has caused global food prices to spike, leaving millions of people in impoverished countries at risk of hunger and sparking fears of social unrest.

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Under the agreement signed in Istanbul, Ukrainian officials would guide ships through safe channels across mined waters into three ports, including Odesa, where they would be loaded with grain.

Kyiv said around 20 million tons of grain from last year's harvest and the current crop would be exported under the agreement. The exports could generate $10 billion in revenue for cash-strapped Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly denied responsibility for the food crisis, and blamed Western sanctions for slowing Russia’s own food and fertilizer exports.

He has also blamed the food crisis on Ukraine’s decision to lay mines around its Black Sea ports.

Ukraine was forced to mine the area around its ports to prevent Russia from invading its territory by sea.

With reporting by Reuters, AFP, and AP