Russia has hit the Odesa seaport with Kalibr cruise missiles, the spokesman for the Odesa regional military administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, has said.
According to him, Ukraine's air defence shot down two missiles but the other two struck the port infrastructure.
According to the local news website Dumska, there are casualties.
Under the grain deal signed separately by Ukraine and Russia with Turkey and the UN secretary general yesterday, Odesa is one of Ukraine's three ports from which Kyiv was to safely export its grain abroad. The UN was optimistic the first batches would be sent off as soon as this Saturday.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleh Nikolenko said that the Russian missile attack on Odesa was Putin's spit in the face of Guterres and Erdogan. He called on the UN and Turkey to ensure that Russia honours its commitments on the grain corridor.
The head of the presidential office, Andriy Yermak, also reacted to the shelling of Odesa.
"Yesterday it was agreed to export grain by sea and today the russians are hitting the port of Odessa. This is a russian diplomatic dichotomy," he said on Telegram.