Russia announced on Wednesday it would consider any ship heading for Ukraine’s Black Sea grain ports a military target, as Kiev, which accuses Moscow of bombing its grain terminals, calls for international escorts for such cargo ships after a crucial global food deal expires.
Ukraine, whose counter-offensive is struggling for the moment to break the lines of defense built by the Russians, at the same time repeated that there could be no negotiations with Moscow, and demanded from its Western allies hundreds of additional armored vehicles and American F-16 fighter planes to retake its territories.
“In terms of morale, we are holding on. We just want victory to come as soon as possible,” a 23-year-old Ukrainian soldier told AFP, without giving his name and at an undisclosed location on the front near Lyman (east).
Consequence of the blocking since Monday by Russia of the secure “corridor” in the Black Sea which had been negotiated with Moscow through the UN and Turkey to export millions of tonnes of Ukrainian cereals by cargo ship, wheat closed at 253.75 euros per tonne on the European market, up more than 8%.
Given the risks, “there are no longer any shipowners ready to go there”, noted Frédéric Denefle, general manager of the Garex group, specialist in conflict risk insurance.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Wednesday that from now on “all ships sailing in the waters of the Black Sea bound for Ukrainian ports will be considered as ships potentially carrying military cargo”.
According to Adam Hodge, spokesman for the American National Security Council, Moscow “could expand its targeting (…) to include attacks on civilian boats” and then “blame for these attacks on Ukraine”.
These accusations are based on elements of the intelligence that have just been declassified, he said.
Kiev for its part is now asking for the establishment of naval “military patrols” under a UN mandate and with the participation in particular of Turkey, Mykhaïlo Podoliak, adviser to the Ukrainian presidency, told AFP. He has ruled out any negotiations with Moscow, whose objective, according to him, is to “destroy” Ukraine.
The country experienced a second consecutive night of Russian strikes on Odessa, a major Black Sea port. According to the Ministry responsible for the reconstruction of Ukraine, “the grain terminals and port infrastructure” of the ports of Odessa and Chornomorsk were attacked, and “the silos and docks of the port of Odessa” were damaged in particular.
The attack, carried out with Iranian-made cruise missiles and explosive drones, injured at least 12, according to Odessa region governor Oleg Kiper.
“Everyone is concerned about Russian terror,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address, calling for “bringing Russia to justice for this terror.”
Paris accused Moscow of posing “an irresponsible risk to world food security” and Berlin noted that the Russian bombardments indirectly “hit the poorest in the world”.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed to have targeted only “military industrial sites, fuel infrastructure and ammunition depots of the Ukrainian army”.
The Kremlin warned on Tuesday of new “risks” in the Black Sea after the end of the grain agreement. Moscow has refused to renew this agreement signed in July 2022 under the aegis of the United Nations and Turkey, and has since been extended several times, denouncing obstacles to trade in its own fertilizers and food products.
Vladimir Putin assured Wednesday that Russia was ready to return to the agreement if its demands were carried out “in their entirety”, and accused the West of using this question as a tool of “political blackmail”.
In one year, the agreement had allowed the release of nearly 33 million tonnes of grain from Ukrainian ports, helping to stabilize world food prices and ward off the risk of shortages.
In eastern Crimea, a fire on military land, accompanied by detonations which could be those of ammunition stocks according to Russian online media, was still raging on Wednesday and required the evacuation of four adjacent localities, more than 2,000 people.
Ukraine regularly strikes garrisons or stocks of Russian equipment deep in the lines, as far as the Crimean peninsula.
On the front, the fighting is concentrated in eastern Ukraine where the two armies face each other. Near Kupyansk, in the northeast, Russia assured to have advanced by one kilometer.
According to presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak, Ukraine needs to break the Russian lines “200 to 300 additional armored vehicles, primarily tanks”, “60 to 80 F-16 aircraft” and “5 to 10 additional air defense systems” American Patriot or their French SAMP/T equivalents.
The Pentagon announced Wednesday a new military aid plan of 1.3 billion dollars including in particular four anti-aircraft defense systems, to “repel Russian aggression in the medium and long term”.
20/07/2023 01:59:39 – Moscow (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
