Russia pounds Odesa with missile fire, Zelenskyy warns of global food crisis amid port city blockade

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Russian shelling pummeled Odesa Tuesday, hitting the Ukrainian port city with seven missiles as it ramps up its campaign in the south.

At least one person was killed and five were injured after Russian missiles targeted a supermarket, Reuters reported.

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Details surrounding the attack are limited, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that the continued blockade of the strategic port city could have global implications.

“For the first time in decades, there is no usual movement of the merchant fleet, no usual port functioning in Odesa. Probably this has never happened in Odesa since World War II,” Zelenskyy said in a Monday address.

“Without our agricultural exports, dozens of countries in different parts of the world are already on the brink of food shortages. And over time, the situation can become downright terrible,” he continued. “This is a direct consequence of Russian aggression, which can be overcome only together – by all Europeans, by the whole free world. It can be overcome by putting pressure on Russia, by effectively forcing Russia to stop this disgraceful war.”

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Russia has been increasing its aggression against the port city in recent weeks after Russia said it would set its sights on eastern and southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that Russia is relying on ships in the Black Sea to support units along the coastal regions and block civilian shipping.

The ministry also warned the fleets are taking a more direct role by helping to “isolate combat areas, conduct reconnaissance, launch missile strikes on important objects of civil and military infrastructure.”

An operational update said that the majority of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine is still centered in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

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“Russian enemy does not stop conducting offensive operations in the Eastern Operational Zone in order to establish full control over the territory of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and maintain the land corridor between these territories and the occupied Crimea,” the ministry said. “Artillery continues to be used along almost the entire line of contact.”

Reports surfaced Tuesday suggesting that Ukraine’s armed forces have been able to achieve some advancements in the northeast and that troops have been able to push Russian forces back from occupied areas in Kharkiv.