- First Ukrainian grain ship bound for Lebanon
- Turkey says more ships will follow
- Russian missiles arrive at the port of Mykolaiv
- Ukrainian grain magnate Oleksiy Vadatursky killed in Mykolaiv
- Putin’s maritime ambitions include the Black Sea, the Arctic
KYIV, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The first ship to leave Ukraine with grain exports since the start of the Russian invasion is due to leave on Monday under a guaranteed safe passage agreement, the Turkey’s defense ministry, adding that more will follow.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni will leave the port of Odesa for Lebanon with its cargo of maize, the ministry said.
Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine has sparked a global food and energy crisis that is shaking the global economy. The United Nations has warned of a global hunger crisis with a “real risk” of multiple famines this year.
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Russia and Ukraine account for almost a third of world wheat exports. But Western sanctions on Russia and fighting along Ukraine’s east coast have prevented grain ships from leaving ports safely.
Razoni’s departure was made possible after Moscow, Kyiv, Ankara and the United Nations signed a grain and fertilizer export deal in July. The agreement aims to allow safe passage for grain shipments in and out of Chornomorsk, Odesa and the port of Pivdennyi.
“It was agreed that the Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship named Razoni, which is loaded with maize, will leave the port of Odesa at 08.30 am (05.30 GMT) on August 1 for the Lebanon,” Turkey’s defense ministry said. in a note
“The deployment of other ships is planned within the scope of the determined corridor and method” as part of the July agreement, he said.
Ukrainian officials have said there were 17 ships docked at Ukraine’s Black Sea ports with nearly 600,000 tons of cargo. Of them, 16 had grain from Ukraine with a total volume of about 580,000 tons.
Russia has denied responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing exports and Ukraine for exploiting approaches to its ports.
BOMBARDMENT OF PORTS
On Sunday, Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv on the Black Sea as President Vladimir Putin signed a new naval doctrine that established the United States as Russia’s main rival and established maritime ambitions in the Black Sea and the Arctic .
Putin did not mention the conflict in Ukraine during a Navy Day speech, but said the navy would receive Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles in the coming months. The missiles can travel at nine times the speed of sound, bypassing air defenses. Read more
Navy Day celebrations in the port of Sevastopol were disrupted when five Russian navy personnel were injured in an explosion after a suspected drone flew into the yard of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the governor of the port city of Crimea, Mikhail Razvozhayev, to the Russian media.
Reuters could not independently verify reports from the battlefield.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said more than 12 rocket attacks, possibly the most powerful in the city in five months of war, hit homes and schools on Sunday, killing two people and wounding three. The missile attacks continued until Sunday evening.
Ukrainian grain magnate Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of the agricultural company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim told Telegram.
Based in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city bordering the mostly Russian-occupied Kherson region, Nibulon specializes in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn, and has its own fleet and shipyard.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy described Vadatursky’s death as “a great loss for all of Ukraine.”
Zelenskiy added that the businessman – one of Ukraine’s richest with Forbes estimating his 2021 net worth at $430 million – had been building a modern grain market with a network of terminals and elevators.
“It is these people, these companies, precisely the south of Ukraine, who have guaranteed the world’s food security,” Zelenskiy said in his evening speech. “This has always been so. And it will be so once more.”
Zelenskiy said Ukraine could harvest only half its usual amount this year because of disruption to agriculture due to Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II. Farmers have reported trying to harvest amid Russian shelling of their fields.
EASTERN DANGER
After failing to quickly capture the capital, Kyiv, early in the war, Russia has turned its focus to eastern and southern Ukraine.
Zelenskiy said Russia had been transferring some forces from the eastern Donbas region to the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
“As Ukrainian authorities reported last week, Russia is likely redeploying a significant number of its forces from the northern Donbas sector to southern Ukraine,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update .
He said Russia was likely adjusting the operational design of its Donbas offensive and had likely identified its Zaporizhzhia front as vulnerable and in need of reinforcement.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, and Ukraine says Russia is trying to do the same to the Donbas region and link it to Crimea. Russian-backed separatists controlled parts of the region before the invasion.
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Michael Perry; Editing by Robert Birsel
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.