An explosion in Odessa and thus near the convoy with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis set authorities on alert on Wednesday morning. The Greek PM was paying a short visit to the city for a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The explosion took place “150 meters from the Greek mission. We are all fine,” a member of the Greek delegation told media.
‼️🇺🇦💥 BREAKING Powerful explosion in Odessa, where the Prime Minister of #Greece was supposed to meet with #Zelensky.
🚨 Air raid alarm and an explosion in Odessa.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was supposed to visit the city today to meet with President Zelensky. pic.twitter.com/sp5k9kEZkc
— Maimunka News (@MaimunkaNews) March 6, 2024
From Telegram…Zelensky arrived in Odessa today to meet with the Greek Prime Minister and reward the special operations soldiers for the sabotage in Crimea.
An award ceremony was supposed to take place in the port, and it was there at 11:43 that an explosion occurred, allegedly… pic.twitter.com/AfowgXwwzK
— Peacemaker (@peacemaket71) March 6, 2024
The Mitsotakis-Zelensky meeting was scheduled under the utmost secrecy for security reasons. Officially the Greek PM was traveling to Bucharest, for the meeting of the European People’s Party.
According to media information, at the time of the explosion the Greek mission had started for the airport, from where it would leave for Romania. After the explosion they were forced to change their route.
PM Mitsotakis and the Greek mission are still in Odessa visiting some sites relevant to the Greek history in the city, joint statements with President Zelensky will follow, state-broadcaster ERT reported from the area at 3 o’clock news.
The meeting with Zelensky was extended from 15 minutes as originally scheduled to half an hour, ERT reported.
Minister of State Stavros Papastavrou said in a statement published on news websites, that the explosion occurred “150 meters” from the Greek mission.” He stressed that “we are all fine.”
“There is no issue with the safety of the prime minister and the Greek mission,” government sources added later.
Posts on social media question whether the explosion was the result of a Russian missile strike, based on the time of the explosion and known reports of missile launches against the city.
