Ukraine and Russia on Friday accused each other of strikes near a reactor at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, the day three new shipments of grain, crucial for global food security, were departed from Ukrainian ports.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met in Sochi, on the shores of the Black Sea, where they decided to “strengthen trade exchanges” between the two countries. Mr. Putin also thanked Mr. Erdoğan for his efforts which made it possible to find an agreement between Moscow and Ukraine on grain deliveries.
The situation was confused Friday evening as to the situation in Zaporijjia, under Russian occupation since the beginning of March. kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of having carried out “three strikes” near one of the reactors of the nuclear power plant.
“Despite Russian provocations, the plant continues to operate and supply electricity to Ukraine’s energy system,” state-owned Energoatom said. However, “there are risks of hydrogen leakage and spraying of radioactive substances. The danger of fire is high,” she warned.
The Russian army, for its part, spoke in a press release of “artillery fire” from “Ukrainian armed formations”, both “against the territory of the Zaporizhia power plant and the city of Energodar”, denouncing “acts of nuclear terrorism”. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Russia must “bear responsibility” for this “act of terror”.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had already declared on Tuesday that the situation was “volatile” in Zaporizhia and was becoming “more and more dangerous day by day”.
On the military ground, the Russians once again bombed Mykolaiv, a town not far from the southern front, on Friday. Result: 22 injured, including a 13-year-old boy, and many damaged homes, according to the mayor of the city, Oleksandr Senkevich. A curfew has been introduced there until Monday morning in order to neutralize the “collaborators” of the Russians.
Ukrainian forces are currently conducting a counter-offensive in the south of the country, where they claim to have recaptured more than 50 villages that fell to Russian soldiers.
Three other grain convoys
At the same time, five days after the departure from Odessa of a first cargo ship – expected Sunday in Lebanon – carrying Ukrainian cereals since the start of the Russian offensive, three other shipments left Ukraine in convoy, announced the Turkish ministry. of the defense. A series of regular rotations should follow to supply agricultural markets.
The three ships will serve Ireland, England and Turkey. And another building is already on its way to the port of Chernomorsk, which it must reach on Saturday, said Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.
Russia and Ukraine have signed two separate agreements, validated by Turkey and the United Nations, which allow the export of Ukrainian cereals immobilized by the conflict and Russian agricultural products despite Western sanctions. They are expected to help ease the global food crisis, which has seen prices soar in some of the poorest countries due to the blocking of Ukrainian ports.
Food prices also fell sharply in July, driven down by those of cereals and vegetable oils, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) announced on Friday.