Just hours after a grain deal, Zelenskiy condemns the attack on the port of Odesa, calling it "barbarism" on the part of the Russians.

After missiles damaged the southern port of Odesa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of "barbarism," endangering an agreement signed the day before to allow grain exports from Black Sea ports and help global food shortages caused by the war.

Russia launched cruise missile strikes on Odesa, via which grain deliveries from southern Ukraine would be monitored, just 12 hours after Moscow inked an agreement with Kyiv to enable such exports.

Zelensky referred to the attack as an act of "barbarism," implying that Moscow could not be relied upon to carry out the terms of the agreement.

Russia, he told US lawmakers, "proves just one thing: no matter what it says and pledges, it will find methods not to do it," according to a statement released by the White House.

Social media posts from witnesses in the port area showed the explosion of a missile not far from a docked ship, hidden behind stacks of containers.

The attacks on Odesa were strongly condemned by the United Nations, the European Union, the United States, Britain, Germany, and Italy.

Russian commitment to yesterday's agreement is called into question by this strike, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated in a statement.

He also said, "Russia is responsible for worsening the worldwide food situation and needs to cease its actions."

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called the incident, which took place just hours after the agreement was signed, "appalling," adding that it was "totally unnecessary" and showed that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, could not be trusted.

According to the Turkish defense minister, Russian authorities assured Ankara that Moscow was "not involved" in the attacks. There was no mention of missile attacks on Odesa in either the Russian defense ministry's announcements or the evening summary. A reporter from Reuters sought comment from the ministry, but she received no response.

In a Friday press conference, UN officials expressed optimism that the deal may go into effect within the next several weeks. Ukraine's southern military command, as reported by the public station Suspilne, said that the port's grain storage area was not damaged in the attack.

"There are injuries, unfortunately. Maksym Marchenko, governor of the Odesa region, indicated that the port's infrastructure had been destroyed.

We continue technical preparations for the commencement of exports of agricultural products from our ports," Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on Facebook.

As major producers of wheat on a global scale, Russia and Ukraine have seen their export prices skyrocket as a result of the conflict. According to the World Food Programme, 47 million people throughout the world are experiencing "acute hunger" due to the current food crisis.

By increasing the supply of wheat, sunflower oil, fertilizer, and other products on international markets, including those used for humanitarian purposes, and lowering their prices, the agreement reached on Friday hopes to reduce the risk of hunger in less developed nations.