War in Ukraine, Day 247 | Russia suspends agreement on Ukrainian grain exports

(Moscow) Russia on Saturday suspended a deal on grain exports from Ukrainian ports, vital to the world’s food supply, after a drone attack targeting its ships in annexed Crimea, which Moscow blamed on Ukraine and to Great Britain.

Ukraine denounced a “false pretext” and called for pressure to be exerted so that Russia “recommits to respecting its obligations” for this agreement concluded in July under the aegis of the UN and Turkey, the only one between Moscow and Kyiv since the beginning of the conflict.

The grain agreement had allowed the export of several million tonnes of grain stuck in Ukrainian ports since the start of the conflict in February. This blockage had caused food prices to soar, raising fears of famine.

The UN, guarantor of the agreement, called for it to be preserved, stressing that it had a “positive impact” for access to food for millions of people around the world.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ramped up criticism of the deal in recent weeks, pointing out that exports from Russia, another major grain producer, were suffering because of the sanctions.

Moscow justified this suspension by a massive drone attack which targeted the Russian Black Sea Fleet stationed in the bay of Sevastopol, in annexed Crimea, on Saturday morning.

“In view of the terrorist act carried out by the Kyiv regime with the participation of British experts against ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships involved in the security of grain corridors, Russia is suspending its participation in the implementation of the agreement on exports of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports,” the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Telegram.

Faced with these accusations, the British Defense reacted by denouncing “false information” intended to “divert attention”, while a Ukrainian official suggested that “negligent handling of explosives” by Russian forces was to the origin of the incident.

“Made up story”

According to Russian authorities, the attack took place in the early hours of Saturday with “nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous maritime drones”, causing “minor damage” to a minesweeping vessel and the containment boom of the Sevastopol Bay.

“The preparation of this terrorist act and the training of the military personnel of the 73^e Ukrainian center for special maritime operations were carried out by British specialists based in Ochakov, in the Mykolaiv region of Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said on Telegram.

Moscow has also accused London of being involved in the explosions that damaged the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September and promised to submit the question to the UN Security Council.

“Russia has repeatedly called for a joint investigation into the attacks […]. The fact that Western countries have refused this proposal confirms it: they have something to hide,” Russian foreign affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

The British Ministry of Defense denounced a “fabricated story” by Russia to “distract attention from its disastrous management of the illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she gave “no credit” to the Russian accusations.

An adviser to Ukrainian Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko assured him on Telegram that “as a result of careless handling of explosives in Sevastopol Bay, four warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet exploded , including a frigate and a landing ship”.

“Making the Problems Worse”

Shortly before the announcement of the suspension of the cereals agreement, the Russian Minister of Agriculture had once again criticized the text on television, accusing the EU countries of monopolizing Ukrainian exports which should return to the countries poor. These allegations had previously been denied by the coordination center located in Turkey.

“The grain agreement, unfortunately, not only did not solve the problems of the countries in need, but even aggravated them in a certain sense,” said Dmitry Patrushev, promising to deliver them free of charge up to to 500,000 tons of Russian grain.

On the ground Saturday, the Ukrainian military reported fighting in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions, including near Bakhmout, the only area where Russian troops have advanced in recent weeks, and shelling in several others. regions.

On the southern front, AFP journalists witnessed artillery battles in the village of Kobzartsi, the last town on the Ukrainian side before the line of contact with the Russians.

“It could go wrong there. But we know that they suffer much more on their side than on ours, ”assured a Ukrainian soldier, Oleksiï, in his twenties.

Both sides are preparing in this area for the battle for the city of Kherson, the regional capital, from where the occupation authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of civilians, what Ukraine has called “deportations”.