ODESA, Ukraine — If any Western leaders still nurse fantasies about talks with Vladimir Putin over the fate of Ukraine, Russia’s treatment of this historic port city proves they are fools.
Just one day after signing a deal on July 23 to stop blockading Ukraine’s grain exports — which are critical to preventing famine in the Mideast and Africa — Russia shelled the port of Odesa from which the grain shipments were meant to resume. Another Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s coast on Tuesday made it even less likely that owners and insurers will risk their vessels in a grain convoy.
In the meantime, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is on a propaganda tour of Africa, falsely blaming Ukraine and the West for soaring grain prices. Never mind that Russian warships off Ukraine’s Black Sea and Azov Sea coast have been shelling and seizing key Ukrainian ports for months, even as they block Odesa’s harbor.
