"Overnight strikes today targeted ... the ports of Belgorod-Dnester and Ilyichevsk in the Odessa region," Lebedev said.
The impact of insecurity in the Black Sea ports due to hostilities between Ukraine and Russia was addressed in a July 2022 deal known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The Turkiye- and UN-mediated deal, which provided for a humanitarian corridor to allow safe sea exports of Ukrainian and Russian agricultural products, expired, as Russia did not renew its participation in the deal. Moscow said that the deal's component on facilitating Russian grain and fertilizer exports had not been fulfilled.