- Russia announced it would suspend the UN-brokered wheat deal that allowed Ukraine to export grain during the war.
- After an alleged Ukrainian drone attack on Russian ships in the Black Sea Fleet, this decision was taken.
- The deal has allowed Ukraine to export more than 9,000,000 tons of grain, which will help lower global food costs.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia announced Saturday that it will move to suspend its implementation of a U.N.-brokered grain deal that has seen more than 9 million tons of grain exported from Ukraine during the war and has brought down soaring global food prices.
Russian Defense Ministry claimed that a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian Black Sea Fleet ships off the coast of occupied Crimea was the reason behind the move. Russia claims it happened early Saturday. Ukraine denies the attack and claims that Russians mishandled weapons.
The Russian declaration was made one day after Antonio Guterres, U.N. chief, urged Russia to renew its grain export agreement. Guterres also called on other countries, mostly in the West to speed up the removal of any obstacles that prevent Russian fertilizer and grain exports.
The U.N. chief said the grain deal — brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July and which expires on Nov. 19 — helps “to cushion the suffering that this global cost-of-living crisis is inflicting on billions of people,” his spokesman said.
A Guterres spokesperson said U.N. officials were in contact with Russian authorities about the suspension.
Stephane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the initiative, stated that “it is crucial that all parties refrain form any action that might imperil the Black Sea Grain Initiative which is a crucial humanitarian effort that is clearly having an impact on access to foodstuffs for millions of people.”
Playing ‘hunger games’
Russian Foreign Ministry claimed Saturday that British specialists were involved in an alleged drone attack on Russian ships in Crimea.
“In connection with the actions of Ukrainian armed forces, led by British specialists, directed, among other things, against Russian ships that ensure the functioning of the humanitarian corridor in question (which cannot be qualified otherwise than as a terrorist attack), the Russian side cannot guarantee the safety of civilian dry cargo ships participating in the Black Sea initiative, and suspends its implementation from today for an indefinite period,″ the Russian statement said.
The Defense Ministry in Britain has not yet commented.
Dmytro Kuleba (Ukraine’s Foreign Minister) accused Russia of playing “hunger-games” by threatening global food shipments.
“We warned of Russia’s plans for destroying the (grain) agreement.” He tweeted Saturday that Moscow was blocking the grain corridor, which ensures food security for millions, while making false pretenses.
Andriy Ermak, head of the Ukrainian presidential offices, condemned the suspension as “primitive Blackmail.”
Turkish officials claimed that they have not received an official notice about the suspension of the deal.
Russia’s agriculture minister has stated that Moscow is willing to “fully replace Ukrainian grains and deliver supplies at reasonable prices to all countries interested.” Dmitry Patrushev, Russia’s agriculture minister, stated that Moscow is ready to supply “up to 500,000 tons” of grain to the poorest nations free of charge over the next four months. This was with the support of Turkey.
Patrushev also reiterated previous Kremlin allegations that a high volume of grain exported by Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was headed for European destinations.
The alleged attack
Ukraine and Russia presented differing accounts of the Crimea drone attack Saturday morning. At least one Russian vessel was damaged in the port on Ukraine’s peninsula annexed in 2014 by Moscow.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, a minesweeper sustained “minor damage” in an alleged attack by Ukrainian forces on civilian and navy vessels docked at Sevastopol. Sevastopol is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet headquarters. According to the ministry, Russian forces “repelled 16 drone attacks.”
Mikhail Razvozhaev (the governor of Sevastopol Region) stated that the port was the victim to “probably the most extensive attack” by sea and air drones. The governor of the Sevastopol region, Mikhail Razvozhaev, did not provide any evidence and said that all footage from the area would remain secret for security purposes.
A Ukrainian Interior Ministry adviser claimed that explosions had occurred on four warships belonging to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet due to “careless handling explosives”. Telegram’s Anton Gerashchenko said that the vessels comprised a frigate, landing ship and ship that had cruise missiles. This was in response to a July attack that killed a city in western Ukraine.
Other developments
Other developments occurred Saturday: Russian troops moved large numbers from the southern Ukrainian hospitals to transport their wounded and sick comrades. Kherson region and stripped the facilities of medical equipment, Ukrainian officials said as their forces fought to retake the province.
Kremlin-installed authorities in the mostly Russian-occupied region had previously urged civilians to leave the city of Kherson, the region’s capital — and reportedly joined the tens of thousands who fled to other Russia-held areas.
“The General Staff of Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the so-called evacuation of invaders has continued from temporarily occupied territory of Kherson, including medical institutions.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, said that the Russians are “dismantling all health care systems” in Kherson and other areas under occupation.
“The occupiers have decided that they will close.” Hospitals in the cities, take away equipment, ambulances. “Just everything,” Zelenskyy stated.
Kherson is among the four regions of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin illegally annexed last month and where he subsequently declared martial law. Donetsk (Luhansk) and Zaporizhzhia (Zaporizhzhia) are the other three.
According to Ukrainian authorities, Russia continued its missile and shelling attacks in the east of Ukraine as Kyiv’s forces tried to gain gains in the south. Donetsk, where Russian soldiers are trying to seize control of the region has become a hotspot for civilian deaths and injuries with eight more people being injured. Bakhmut is an important target in Russia’s stalled Eastern offensive.
Russian bombing also damaged an industrial building in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia province. Around a quarter of the region — including its capital, also called Zaporizhzhia — remains under Ukrainian military control.
According to Yermak, 52 Ukrainians were released in a prisoner swap. This included two ex-defenders of Mariupol’s Azovstal steel plant. The steelworks that were destroyed in the port city of Mariupol now symbolise Ukrainian resistance.
He said that a sailor from Ukraine who defended Snake Island, a strategically important Black Sea outpost, was also released. Russia seized it in the first hours of war. Others coming home were Ukrainian soldiers captured by Moscow near the Chernobyl nuclear power plant — the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986 — which Russian forces briefly occupied from February to March.
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This has been corrected to reflect that the Russian Defense Ministry only said one ship, and not two, was slightly damaged at Crimea port.
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