Bulgaria vigorously criticized Russia’s attack on the port of Odesa and asked for complete and unobstructed execution of the agreement on wheat exports from Ukraine, said the Foreign Ministry in Sofia through a Twitter post on Sunday, July 24.
Bulgaria’s Foreign Ministry said, “Weaponizing food is not acceptable.”
The Russian attack came on July 23, hours after the signing of the Black Sea Grain Initiative by Ukraine and Russia, which was undertaken to assure the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.
The deal was done with the aim of allowing commercial food exports from three major Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea – Chernomorsk, Odesa and Yuzhny.
Russia asserted that the targets of its strikes were military. On Saturday, July 23, European Union strongly criticized the Russian missile strike on the seaport of Odesa.
According to the reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy blamed Russia for ‘barbarism’ after this missile attack.
Zelenskyy stated that the strike demonstrated that Moscow couldn’t be trusted to adhere to the deal.
On July 23, Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, in response to the Russian attack, stated that the Kremlin persists in showing disregard for the security and safety of millions of civilians as it eternalizes its assault on Ukraine.
Blinken who stated that the attack casts heavy doubt on the credibility of commitment of Russia to the deal and sabotages the work of the UN, Turkiye and Ukraine to get the necessary food to world markets and added that Russia is starving Ukraine of its economic energy and the world of its food supply via the effective blockade of the Black Sea.
On the other hand, António Guterres, spokesman for UN Secretary-General, stated that the United Nations chief unequivocally criticized the missile attack.