Russia hits Ukraine's grain for fourth day, practices seizing ships
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[July 21, 2023]
By Olena Harmash
KYIV (Reuters) -Russia pounded Ukrainian food export facilities for a
fourth day in a row on Friday and practiced seizing ships in the Black
Sea in an escalation of what Western leaders say is an attempt to
wriggle out of sanctions by threatening a global food crisis.
The direct attacks on Ukraine's grain, a key part of the global food
chain, followed a vow by Kyiv to defy Russia's naval blockade on its
grain export ports following Moscow's withdrawal this week from a
UN-brokered safe sea corridor agreement.
"Unfortunately, the grain terminals of an agricultural enterprise in
Odesa region were hit. The enemy destroyed 100 tons of peas and 20 tons
of barley," regional governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging
app.
Two people had been injured, he said. Photographs released by the
emergencies ministry showed a fire burning among crumpled metal
buildings that appeared to be storehouses, and a badly damaged
fire-fighting vehicle.
Moscow has described the attacks as revenge for a Ukrainian strike on a
Russian-built bridge to Crimea - the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula
illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Russia said on it would deem all ships heading for Ukrainian waters to
be potentially carrying weapons from Thursday, in what Washington called
a signal it might attack civilian shipping. Kyiv later responded by
issuing a similar warning about ships headed to Russia.
Russia's defense ministry on Friday said its Black Sea fleet had
practiced firing rockets at "floating targets" and apprehending ships.
Moscow's ambassador to Washington denied any plan to attack ships.
The attacks on grain export infrastructure and perceived threat to
shipping drove up prices of benchmark Chicago wheat futures on Friday
towards their biggest weekly gain since the February 2022 invasion, as
traders worried about supply.
The U.N. Security Council was due to meet later over the "humanitarian
consequences" of Russia's withdrawal from the safe corridor deal, which
aid groups say is vital to stem growing hunger in a string of poorer
countries.
The president of Turkey, which brokered the deal alongside the U.N.
said, he hoped planned talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin could
lead to the restoration of the initiative.
The end of the deal could lead to rising global food prices, scarcity in
some regions and potentially new waves of migration, Tayyip Erdogan told
reporters on a flight back from a trip to Gulf countries and northern
Cyprus.
The West should listen to some of Russia's demands, he said. "We are
aware that President Putin also has certain expectations from Western
countries, and it is crucial for these countries to take action in this
regard."
Moscow says it will not participate in the year-old grain deal without
better terms for its own food and fertilizer sales.
Western leaders have accused Russia of seeking to loosen sanctions
imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, which already exempt exports of
Russian food. Russian grain has moved freely through the Black Sea to
market throughout the conflict and traders say Russia is pouring wheat
onto the market.
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A view shows a grain warehouse destroyed
by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, at a
compound of an agricultural company in Odesa region, Ukraine July
21, 2023. Press Service of the the Operational Command South of the
Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS
WAGNER NEAR POLAND BORDER
A Polish broadcaster reported on Friday that a military
reconnaissance drone of unspecified origins had crashed near a base
in southwestern Poland earlier this week.
NATO-member Poland has been reinforcing its border with Belarus,
where Russia's Wagner mercenary force has taken up residency after a
failed mutiny last month.
The mercenary chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, was shown on video Wednesday
welcoming his fighters to Belarus, and Belarus has said Wagner
fighters are now training its troops near the Polish border. People
in Poland near the border said on Thursday they could hear shooting
and helicopters.
Inside Ukraine, Yuriy Malashko, the governor of the southern region
of Zaporizhzhia, reported 80 Russian attacks on settlements in the
region in the previous 24 hours, and said that four people had been
killed.
A married couple in their fifties had also been killed early on
Friday in Russian shelling of the city of Kostiantynivka in the
eastern region of Donetsk, the general prosecutor's office said.
Russia had already used almost 70 missiles and almost 90
Iranian-made loitering munitions to attack so far this week, mostly
targeting Odesa and other southern regions, Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
MORE SANCTIONS
The United States on Thursday imposed Russia-related sanctions
against nearly 120 people and entities aimed at blocking Moscow's
access to electronics and other goods that aid its war against
Ukraine.
Russia's embassy in Washington said they were part of the "endless
attacks" by U.S. President Joe Biden's administration "in the
context of the hybrid war unleashed by the West against our
country."
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year and
claims to have annexed nearly a fifth of its territory. Moscow says
it is responding to threats posed by its neighbor; Kyiv and the West
call it an unprovoked war of conquest.
Zelenskiy urged his government on Thursday to keep a tight rein on
spending in wartime, prompting his culture minister, a proponent of
several high-profile and costly projects, to offer his resignation.
"Cobblestones, city decorations, fountains will have to wait.
Victory first," Zelenskiy said.
(Additional reporting by Anna Pruchnicka in KYIV; writing by
Philippa Fletcher; editing by Peter Graff)
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