Russia's overnight missile and drone blitz on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa was intended as "revenge" for Kyiv's suspected naval drone strike on the Kerch Strait Bridge, Ukraine's deputy prime minister has told Newsweek.
Olha Stefanishyna said in an exclusive interview that the "massive" Tuesday night strike on Odesa was a response to the second attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which links Crimea to Russia, since February 2022, which early on Monday morning badly damaged the roadway section of the structure.
"The mood is very devastated," Stefanishyna—whose deputy prime ministerial portfolio is Ukraine's European and Euro-Atlantic Integration—said on Wednesday morning. "Russia is basically showing that she will force us to pay with our lives."
Russian President Vladimir Putin had vowed retaliation for Monday's attack on the Kerch Strait Bridge, which was reportedly conducted using naval drones. Moscow almost immediately announced its decision to withdraw from the landmark Black Sea Initiative grain export security deal. Renewed strikes on Odesa—a key Ukrainian port and a linchpin of agricultural exports—followed.
"These attacks were on the grain terminals in Odesa, destroying the infrastructure," the deputy prime minister said. "But also, it was an act of revenge for the Kerch Bridge, which has been destroyed and which will only be able to be back to operating after September 15."
"The summer season in Crimea was slightly shorter than expected."
Odesa military administration spokesperson Serhiy Bratchuk wrote on Telegram that the bombardment—the second in two nights—was "very powerful, truly massive." Bratchuk added: "It was a hellish night."
Ukraine's air force said it had destroyed 37 out of 63 targets in the Odesa region, which included 23 suicide drones and 14 cruise missiles fired at "critical infrastructure and military facilities."
Stefanishyna told Newsweek on Wednesday she was "rather skeptical about Russia's commitment to proceed" with the Black Sea Initiative, which began in July 2022 under the guidance of the United Nations and Turkey in a bid to ease food security concerns amid constricting agricultural exports from Ukraine due to Russia's full-scale war.
"For us, the Russians are acting by [their] ordinary playbook," Stefanishyna said. "We did, at the beginning of the war, the wisest possible thing in the world: We didn't sign with Russia anything on paper. It was absolutely a red line for us to have signatures of Ukrainian and Russian officials on one page."
"So, the commitment Russia has been undertaking is before the United Nations and Turkey. And I think that this was also a game changer, that the whole world would not be able to shift the whole responsibility to Ukraine as it was with the Minsk [agreements, which sought to end the conflict in the eastern Donbas region...] or the Normandy Format [group set up in 2014 by French, German, Russian and Ukrainian diplomats]. Now the whole world has to accept that."
"It's also another element of the public humiliation of Russia, because they cannot just play this naming and shaming game, because there are other players at the table."
Turkey and the U.N. signed separate deals with Ukraine and Russia to secure safe passage for commercial shipping in the Black Sea. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he believes Putin is open to reviving the agreement despite the angry statements issued by the Kremlin.
The Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday issued a statement that described the results of the agreement as "disappointing." It added: "If in the Western capitals the 'Black Sea Initiative' is really valued, then let them seriously think about fulfilling their obligations and [the] real removal of Russian fertilizers and food from sanctions."
"Only upon receipt of specific results, and not promises and assurances, will Russia be ready to consider restoring 'transactions.'"
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan on Tuesday and proposed "an alternative" to the collapsed Black Sea Initiative "for supplying grain to the countries most in need, not dependent on the subversive actions of Kyiv and its Western patrons," according to a readout published by the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian Foreign Ministry by email to request further comment.
