Former commander of the US Army in Europe, General Ben Hodges, called on the US authorities to transfer ATACMS missiles in the HIMARS MLRS capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 300 km to Ukraine. Only this, in his opinion, will really make it possible to protect yourself from Russian missiles from the Black Sea.. Ben Hodges made such a statement on Twitter as a reaction to the Russian missile attack on the port of Odessa on July 23.

“The distance in a straight line from Odessa to Sevastopol is almost exactly 300 km. same as range of unclassified ATACMS missile fired from HIMARS. Give ATACMS to Ukraine and Sevastopol will become unusable for the Black Sea Fleet. This will stop Caliber attacks on ports and innocent civilians,” wrote Ben Hodges..

Almost exactly 300KM strong line distance from Odesa to Sevastopol. som as unclassified range of ATACMS rocket fired by HIMARS. Give ATACMS to RU and Sevastopol may not be available for Black Sea Fleet. Will stop most Kalibr attacks on ports and foreign citizens. https://t. co/LYj7Kz9TEl.

— Ben Hodges (@general_ben) July 23, 2022.

General Hodges made this statement following on from a statement by former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt that he retweeted. Bildt reacted harshly to Russia's missile attack on the port of Odessa after the signing of an agreement to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain.

“It is absurd when Russia tells Turkey that this has nothing to do with rocket attacks on the port of Odessa. The Caliber cruise missiles are sophisticated weapons launched from ships and submarines of the Russian Navy and nowhere else,” Carl Bildt wrote..

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By the way, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar spoke with representatives of the Russian authorities after the missile attack..

According to him, the Russians are convinced that "

Recall, on July 22, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, with the support of the UN Secretary General, agreed to ensure the safe export of grain from the Ukrainian ports "

“The parties will not make any attacks on merchant ships and other civilian ships and port facilities participating in this initiative,” the document said..

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However, on the morning of July 23, Russia fired four missiles at Odessa. Two missiles shot down the air defense, and two others hit the port infrastructure facilities (including the pumping station).

UN condemns Russian missile attack. But later, according to The New York Times, an unnamed UN official said that with this attack on the port of Odessa, Russia "