Grain deal expires, Kiev hits Crimean bridge – 2023-07-18 at 10:19

Ukraine’s grain export deal, critical to global food supply, expired on Monday, hours after a Ukrainian offensive damaged a strategic bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula, which it linked to Russia in 2014, for the second time.

Moscow previously said it would not extend a July 2022 deal with Ukraine brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to condemn sanctions on trade in Russian agricultural products.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres responded to the Russian decision by saying that “hundreds of millions of people are facing starvation” and that they “must pay the price”.

The head of US diplomacy described the Russian decision as “unacceptable” and promised that the decision would lead to an increase in food prices.

“Moscow’s willingness to use food as a weapon (…) will make it harder and more expensive to get food to places that need it most,” US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said.

As for Ukraine, it has shown a willingness to continue exporting grain through the Black Sea, with or without Moscow’s agreement on shipping security.

“Even without Russia, everything must be done to use this corridor (for exports) on the Black Sea. We are not afraid,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Early on Tuesday, Ukrainian air defenses were activated in the Odesa region (south), three of whose ports were part of the grain deal, local officials said.

“The enemy is attacking southern parts of Ukraine with drones,” the operational command for the country’s south said, without giving details of the targeted locations or potential damage.

For now, Russia has declared an inadmissible decision to calls that have multiplied in recent days to renew the deal, demanding that we meet its demands on its own exports of grain and fertilizer.

The deal was “de facto concluded today”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, adding that “as soon as the Russian-related part is satisfied, Russia will immediately return to the agreement on grains”.

– Russian requirements –

“If Western capitals truly appreciate the Black Sea Initiative, they will seriously consider fulfilling their obligations and effectively withdraw Russian fertilizers and foodstuffs from economic sanctions,” explained the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Signed on the banks of the Bosphorus in July 2022 and already extended twice, the agreement has made it possible to release almost 33 million tons of grain from Ukrainian ports in the past year.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Turkey, Ukraine and the UN had been notified of the Kremlin’s decision.

However, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his friend Mr.

– Ukraine attack –

Hours earlier, a Ukrainian offensive by naval drones partially destroyed, and for the second time, a bridge crossing the Kerch Strait, linking Russia with the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.

There was significant damage to the road section of the structure, which is used specifically to transport equipment to Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, but on one side of the bridge “vehicular traffic on the Crimean bridge has been restored in the opposite direction,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khuznulin said in a telegram early Tuesday.

The Ukrainian Navy and secret services carried out the attack using “naval drones”, the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) told AFP on Monday.

The Russian Anti-Terrorism Committee (NAK) said in a statement that it happened at 03:05 (00:05 GMT) and confirmed that it was carried out by “naval surface drones”.

Two civilians, a man and a woman who were driving, were killed and their daughter injured, the Russian intelligence agency said on Monday.

“Since this is the second terrorist attack on the Crimean bridge, I await concrete plans to improve the security of this important and strategic transport infrastructure,” Vladimir Putin replied.

“Definitely there will be a response from Russia. The Defense Ministry is making appropriate plans,” he said.

In Telegram, public television Crimea-24 aired a video showing part of the collapsed road section of the bridge.

This 18 kilometer long viaduct, Mr. Built at great expense on Putin’s orders and inaugurated by him in 2018, it consists of two parallel works, one dedicated to road transport and the other to rail transport.

Crimean officials have said that the railway section was not damaged and traffic has resumed there in the morning.

The Russian governor of the annexed peninsula, Sergei Aksyonov, has called on Russian tourists who must leave by car to do so through Russian-controlled areas in eastern Ukraine, parts of which are under fire from the Ukrainian military. Lines.

The bridge was already damaged on October 8 by an explosion caused by Russian authorities due to a truck bombed by Ukrainian secret services. It took several months of work before it was fully returned to service.

On the front, the Ukrainian military has described “intense” fighting in recent days between its units and Russian soldiers who have been on a counterattack.