KYIV | Moscow announced on Monday a new drastic cut in gas deliveries to Europe, reigniting the gas battle between Russia and the West, while Kyiv hopes to be able to resume its grain exports “as of this week”.
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The Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Monday that it would drastically reduce from Wednesday, to 33 million cubic meters daily, deliveries of Russian gas to Europe via the Nord Stream gas pipeline, arguing the need for maintenance of a turbine.
The German economy ministry, however, said there is “no technical reason” for further cuts in delivery. According to Berlin, this is a “pretext” and a “political” decision to influence Westerners in the context of the conflict in Ukraine.
AFP
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered that Russia was waging an “open gas war against united Europe” and called on the latter to “retaliate” by tightening sanctions.
Westerners accuse Moscow of using the energy weapon in retaliation for the sanctions adopted after the offensive against Ukraine.
At the same time, grain exports blocked in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24 should resume “as early as this week”, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said, following an agreement reached on February 22 July in Istanbul between Kyiv, Moscow and Turkey, under the aegis of the UN.
In a telephone interview with Mr Kubrakov, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar expressed Turkey’s “satisfaction” at this announcement.
“It is important that a first ship can leave as quickly as possible,” he said. “Work continues intensely at the Joint Coordination Center,” he added without giving a date. This center will be responsible for conducting inspections of ships leaving and returning from the Black Sea, as required by Moscow.
According to Mr. Kubrakov, the main obstacle to the resumption of exports is the risk of Russian bombing, as illustrated by the strike that targeted the port of Odessa on the Black Sea, vital for this trade, on Saturday.
Russia said on Monday that its strikes on Odessa targeted military targets and did not hinder the resumption of grain exports. Moscow claimed to have destroyed in this port of southern Ukraine a warship and missiles supplied by the United States.
The bombardments on Odessa “target only the military infrastructure”, affirmed the spokesman of the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov.
Guarantee security
Oleksandre Kubrakov for his part called on the guarantors of the agreement, Turkey and the UN, to guarantee the safety of the Ukrainian convoys. “If the parties do not guarantee security, it will not work,” he warned.
Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuri Vaskov said the port of Chornomorsk (southwest) would be the first to operate for exports, followed by those of Odessa and Pivdenny (southwest).
The agreement signed on Friday provides for “secure corridors” for the circulation in the Black Sea of merchant ships.
It should make it possible to export 20 to 25 million tonnes of cereals blocked in Ukraine and to facilitate Russian agricultural exports, thus reducing the risk of a food crisis in the world.
90% of wheat, corn and sunflower exports from Ukraine were carried out by sea and mainly via Odessa, the main Ukrainian port in the Black Sea, which concentrated 60% of the country’s port activity.
Ukraine and Russia account for around 30% of world wheat exports and the war has led to a spike in cereal and oil prices, which has hit the African continent in particular hard.
The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, is currently on a visit to Africa to reassure countries heavily dependent on Ukrainian cereals.
No respite on the front
On the ground, the war knows no respite on the fronts of Mykolaiv (south), in the region of Kharkiv (north-east), the second largest city in Ukraine, in that of Kherson (south) and in the two pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Lugansk in the east.
In Kherson, which the Russians seized on March 3, the situation “remains critical” with shortages of medicines, food and hygiene products, said Monday Dmytro Boutry, head of the regional military administration.
He also assured that Ukrainian forces had regained control of 44 villages in the region and targeted three bridges to complicate Russian logistics.
The Ukrainian army general staff announced in its latest update on Facebook on Monday evening that Russian troops had recorded “partial success” near the Vouglegirsk thermal power plant in Donbass, although they suffered losses in attempting to advance towards the Ukrainian stronghold of Bakhmout in the Donetsk region.
In this context, Germany began delivering Gepard anti-aircraft guns to the Ukrainians on Monday.
“We are expecting 15 Gepards. Three of them arrived in Ukraine today,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Monday, quoted by the Interfax-Ukraine agency.
Polish PT-91 Twardy tanks have also arrived in Ukraine, Andriy Iermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, wrote on Twitter on Monday.
As the war entered its sixth month on Sunday, Eurovision 2022 winners Ukraine welcomed the fact that the next competition will take place in the UK, after denouncing in June the decision to withdraw the hosting of the 2023 edition due to the Russian invasion.