Zelenskiy condemns what he calls Russia's "barbaric" strike on the port of Odesa just hours after the grain deal.

After missiles hit the southern port of Odesa, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, accused Russia of "barbarism," which threatens a deal that was signed just one day before to unblock grain exports from Black Sea ports and reduce global food shortages caused by the war.

Odesa, the city via which grain exports from Ukraine's southern ports would be monitored, was the target of cruise missile strikes by Russia less than a day after Moscow reached an agreement with Kyiv to enable monitored grain exports from Ukraine's southern ports.

The attack, which Zelensky described as clear "barbarism" and which demonstrated that Moscow could not be trusted to carry out the contract,

During a meeting with parliamentarians from the United States, he reportedly said the following: "This proves just one thing: no matter what Russia says and pledges, it will find ways not to implement it," according to a statement released by the president.

A video recorded by an eyewitness and shared on social media shows one of the missiles bursting close to the beachfront behind rows of containers and not distant from a ship that was docked. The video was taken in the port area.

Strong criticism was voiced against the attacks on Odessa by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Britain, Germany, and Italy, respectively.

Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State for the United States of America, issued a statement in which he said that "this attack casts considerable question on the reliability of Russia's commitment to yesterday's settlement."

He continued by saying that Russia should cease its aggressive behavior since it is responsible for the worsening of the global food crisis.

A few hours after the agreement was struck, the British foreign secretary, Liz Truss, called the attack "appalling" and said it was "totally unnecessary." She said that it was evidence that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, could not be trusted.

According to the military minister of Turkey, Russian authorities have reportedly informed Ankara that Moscow was "not involved" in the attacks. There was no mention of missile attacks in Odesa in either the comments released by the Russian defense ministry or the evening summary released by the military. A request for comment from Reuters was not met with a response from the government.

On Friday, UN officials expressed their optimism that the deal will be put into effect within the next few weeks. According to Ukraine's southern military command, which was reported by the public radio Suspilne, the grain storage area of the port was not affected by the attack.

"Unfortunately, there are those who have been injured. The infrastructure of the port was damaged, according to the governor of the Odesa region, Maksym Marchenko.

Oleksandr Kubrakov, the minister in charge of infrastructure, stated on Facebook that "we continue technical preparations for the commencement of exports of agricultural products from our ports."

The conflict has caused a sharp increase in the cost of food, and Russia and Ukraine are two of the most major global producers of wheat. The World Food Programme estimates that 47 million people throughout the world are currently experiencing "acute hunger" as a direct result of the global food crisis.

The agreement reached on Friday aims to prevent starvation in less developed nations by increasing the amount of wheat, sunflower oil, fertilizer, and other products that are available on global markets, including for humanitarian purposes at partially reduced costs.