Russia confirmed on Wednesday that from Thursday it will treat ships bound for Ukraine in the Black Sea as "potential military" tankers, with the countries flying their flags considered parties to the conflict.

 

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Edited by| Tony Wild

 

Politic section -  CJ journalist

 

Moscow – July,19,2023

 

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"All ships sailing in the waters of the Black Sea in the direction of Ukrainian ports will be considered vessels transporting potential military cargo," the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement, adding that "the countries whose flags these ships fly will be considered parties to the conflict.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of" deliberate targeting " in its strikes on sites used for the export of Ukrainian grain, three days after the completion of work on a landmark agreement on this issue.

Zelensky said on Telegram that "Russian terrorists deliberately targeted the infrastructure of the agreement on grain," adding that he wants to "strengthen the protection of people and port infrastructure" in the country to counter these strikes.

According to the ministry in charge of the reconstruction of Ukraine, "grain terminals and infrastructure of the ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk were attacked," a statement published on "Telegram" said, "tanks and docks of the port of Odessa were damaged.

Russia launched an intensive air attack on the Ukrainian city of Odessa for the second night in a row, but the authorities vowed not to succumb to intimidation from this "hellish" attack and not to be deterred from working to keep grain exports out of its ports, spokesman for the Odessa military administration Serhiy brachuk said in an audio message on his Telegram channel that the attack was "very strong and really huge," adding "it was a hellish night," noting that details of the damage, dead and injured will be received later.

The Ukrainian Air Force reported that it shot down 37 of the 63 targets in a large-scale Russian missile and drone attack during the night, a lower rate usually announced after attacks over the past months, and the Air Force said that the main focus of the attack was on infrastructure and military facilities in the Odessa region.

The Southern Military Command of Ukraine explained that Russia used hypersonic missiles to hit the infrastructure of the port of Odessa, and the army reported that the attack targeted "berths for the transportation of grain and oil, damaged tanks and loading equipment, and resulted in a fire. All relevant services are working to deal with the consequences of this".

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo podolyak said that Russia is deliberately targeting grain export docks and port infrastructure, and wrote on Twitter "the main goal is to destroy the possibility of shipping Ukrainian grain".

Ukrainian agriculture minister Mykola solsky announced that 60 thousand tons of grain intended for export and stored in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk near Odessa were damaged by Russian strikes at night, and said in a statement published on the website of his ministry, "it will take at least a year to fully repair the damaged infrastructure. At the port of Chornomorsk, 60 thousand tons of grain were damaged that were supposed to be sent through the grain corridor 60 days ago," he added, adding that "the grain infrastructure of international and Ukrainian traders and carriers was the most affected," noting that "World Food Security is at risk again" due to these attacks targeting Ukrainian sites associated with the export of grain.

Amid this atmosphere, Russia said that the UN has three months to implement the terms of a memorandum that will facilitate Russian agricultural exports if it wants Moscow to resume talks on allowing the continued export of Ukrainian grain.

On Monday, Russia suspended its participation in a year-long agreement brokered by the United Nations that allowed the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea due to complaints about the failure to fulfill promises to facilitate the export of food and Fertilizers.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the responsibility now lies with the United Nations to implement the Russian agreement if it wants Moscow to return to broader talks on assistance in resuming Ukrainian exports, adding: "the memorandum of Russia and the United Nations stipulates that the agreement will be valid for three years, and if one of the parties wishes to terminate it (be it Russia or the United Nations), the other party should be given a three-month notification period. "Accordingly, the UN has three months to achieve tangible results, and if there are tangible results, we will resume talks on that broader issue,"she added.

German Foreign Minister Annalina bierbock considered that the Russian bombing of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa "hits the poorest people in the world," she said, "even if it is difficult to replace the Black Sea route,we support President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine to find alternative transport routes," adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin " steals any hope for the world with Ukrainian grain.

Also on the ground, Russia announced that its troops advanced one kilometer along the front line in the Kharkiv region of north-eastern Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense said in a statement, "during the day the advance of Russian units reached more than a kilometer in depth and up to two kilometers along the front. The units took control of the molchanovo station", located less than 20 kilometers north of kupyansk.

The Kremlin accused the west of turning a blind eye to what it said were "terrorist attacks" committed by Ukraine inside Russia, and signalled "silence" this week over a massive attack on a Crimean Bridge.

Two parents died and their 14-year-old daughter was injured in the operation, which occurred the day before yesterday, while the family was crossing the bridge by car for a vacation in Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Moscow said Ukraine had used naval vehicles to attack the bridge linking Russia to Crimea.

Kiev, which according to Ukrainian media reports was behind the attack but did not officially claim responsibility, maintains that Crimea is Ukrainian and that it intends to retake it by force as part of its campaign to expel Russian troops from its territory.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that this is not the first time Moscow has noticed the West's failure to condemn Ukraine for what he called terrorism, adding, "the West as a whole is ready to turn a blind eye to any terrorist attacks arranged by the Kiev regime in our country," and continued, "They are not ashamed of any kind of silence. This is nothing new. It's the same as before and will remain so. We are well aware of this".

 

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