The Russian Ministry of Defense on Wednesday (June 7) accused “a Ukrainian sabotage group” of blasting an ammonia pipe that was no longer supplied but which Moscow hoped to restore to service.
The explosion occurred Monday evening near Massyoutovka, a village in the hands of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region (northeastern Ukraine), according to the ministry. “Several civilians were injured. They were given all the necessary medical assistance,” he said in a statement.
The pipeline, which connects the Russian city of Togliatti, on the banks of the Volga, with Odessa, the most important Ukrainian port on the Black Sea, allowed Russia to export more than 2.5 million tons of oil annually. ammonia, an essential component of mineral fertilisers, particularly for the European Union.
no danger
It was commissioned to export the products of the Togliatti Chemical Enterprise, the largest Russian ammonia producer and one of the largest in the world. Built in the late 1970s, it has not been powered since the start of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.
On the Ukrainian side, Oleg Sinegoubov, head of the military administration of the Kharkiv region, had attributed its destruction to Russia. “People’s lives and health are currently not in danger,” he said.
The resumption of supply of the pipeline, which is the longest in the world at 2,400 kilometres, is part of the negotiations on the agreement reached under the aegis of the United Nations which allowed the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian cereals.
“This ammonia pipeline was crucial to ensuring food security in the world,” said Russian Foreign Minister Maria Zakharova on Wednesday, accusing Ukraine of having “dealt a severe blow to the efforts of the United Nations in the fight against hunger”. “The only one who had no interest in the ammonia pipeline resuming work was the kyiv regime,” she claimed.
The cereals agreement signed on July 22, 2022 by the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey was renewed in May until July 17.
