The lack of victims from the Russian missile attack on the Odesa port on July 23 does not excuse Russia — it still carried out another act of aggression and violated the agreements made the day before. UN representatives did not say anything about the Russian attack on “military warehouses” in the Odesa port. On the contrary, the UN has once again condemned Russian attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Russian media disseminated manipulative news about the UN allegedly confirming that a Russian missile strike on July 23 targeted “military infrastructure in the Odesa port”. Using a quote from UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, pro-Kremlin media announced that the UN “confirms that no one was injured in the Russian Armed Forces attack on the military infrastructure of the Odesa seaport on July 23.”
To create this disinformation, Russian propaganda resorted to the classic technique of taking a quote out of context, cut off the full quote of the UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq, added their narrative that Russia “does not attack civilian objects”, to create a manipulative story about “UN confirming that Russia’s attack in Odesa targeted military warehouses”.
In reality, the UN Deputy Spokesman did not say anything about Russia “striking a military facility in Odesa”. In his press conference on July 26, Farhan Haq reported that UN humanitarian representatives witnessed the July 23 Russian missile attack on the port of Odesa. Haq’s speech did not mention “military depots”. Farkhan Haq did say that Ukraine reported no casualties. At the same time, earlier in the day, UN press secretary representative separately noted that the organization fully relies on official Ukrainian — and not Kremlin — data on the damage caused by the Russian attack.
It is worth mentioning that the absence of victims in the July 23 Russian missile attack on Odesa does not absolve Russia of responsibility for aggression against civilians, which can be interpreted as a war crime: the International Criminal Court’s investigation into Russian illegal actions in Ukraine began in March 2022.
Additionally, the UN Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq separately highlighted that Russia created a critical situation in southern and eastern Ukraine — these areas are subjected to Russian airstrikes and shellings daily. Farhan Haq provided an example: in July, the Mykolaiv region alonewas subjected to 184 Russian attacks, in which more than twenty people died and another 80 were injured, not to mention the damage and destruction caused to infrastructure. On behalf of the UN Haq also pointed out that Russia continues not only preventing the delivery of humanitarian aid to the temporarily occupied southern regions of Ukraine, but also destroying international humanitarian warehouses.
Farhan Haq, while answering the question about whether the Russian strike on the Odesa port was “commensurate” with the safe travel of ships, noted that Russia “is not being helpful” with its destructive policy of attacking the Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. He also added once again that the UN condemns attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, and called to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Ukrainian regions most affected by Russian aggression.
Agreements between Ukraine, Turkey and the UN, as well as Russia, Turkey and the UN regarding the unblocking of the Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny (South) ports were signed in Istanbul on July 22. Less than a day later, Russia launched missile strikes on the Odesa port infrastructure, from where the grain shipments were supposed to begin. Two Russian Kalibr missiles struck the port infrastructure facilities, two more were shot down by air defense forces. International organizations and Western politicians unequivocally condemned the Russian actions, calling the Russian missile attack on Odesa port infrastructure “outrageous”, and called for the Kremlin to be held accountable for the attack on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
