Russia responds with missiles, as it withdraws from Grain Export Agreement

Russia attacked several Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, a day after pulling out of a U.N.-brokered deal to protect Ukrainian grain exports. Moscow’s forces have claimed success in areas where Ukrainian officials say Russian forces are slowly regaining the offensive.

Debris from a Russian Kalibr cruise missile is seen in a destroyed building after a Russian airstrike in the port city of Odesa, Ukraine, July 18, 2023. Photo: Communications Department of the Southern Operations Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine/Via REUTERS.

The Russian government said the airstrike destroyed a fuel depot and a factory producing unmanned maritime vehicles in Odessa. The airstrike was part of a “massive retaliatory strike” in response to Ukrainian attacks that destroyed a bridge linking Russia to the Crimean peninsula.

Shortly after the bridge was attacked on Monday, Moscow withdrew from a U.N.-brokered grain export protection deal a year ago, a move the U.N. said risks causing global hunger.

Debris and shock waves from the explosions damaged homes and other facilities in Ukraine’s main port, Odesa, according to Ukraine’s southern military operations command. Local authorities in Mykolaiv, another port, also reported a large fire.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian government's office, said Russia's airstrikes on the ports provided "more evidence that the state wants to harm the lives of 400 million people in many countries that depend on Ukraine's food exports."

The Ukrainian Air Force said six Kalibr missiles and 31 of 36 drones were shot down. Moscow, for its part, said it had disrupted a Ukrainian drone strike on Crimea, suffered no damage, and reopened a traffic lane across the Crimean bridge.

Six weeks later, as Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the eastern and southern theaters, Russia also began a ground offensive in northeastern Ukraine.

Russia’s defense ministry said its forces had advanced 2km around Kupiansk, a railway hub that Ukraine recaptured in 2022. Kyiv authorities acknowledged the “complicated” situation in the area. Reuters could not verify the situation on the battlefield.

Since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in June, the Kyiv government has retaken several villages in the south and some areas around the eastern city of Bakhmut, but has yet to launch a breakthrough across the Russian army's defenses.

“Impact on people in difficult situations”

The Black Sea grain export deal, brokered by Türkiye and the UN in 2022, was one of the only diplomatic successes in the war, lifting a Russian blockade around Ukrainian ports that led to global food shortages.

Ukraine and Russia are both among the world’s largest exporters of grain and other food products. If Ukraine’s grain were cut off from world markets, grain prices could skyrocket worldwide, hitting poorer countries hardest.

Illustration photo: AP/Andrew Kravchenko

“The decision taken by the Russian Federation today will impact vulnerable people all over the world,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday.

Moscow has rejected calls from Ukraine to allow grain exports to continue without Russia being part of the deal, and the Kremlin has said publicly that ships moving into the area without Russian permission could be at risk.

“This is a region on the edge of a battlefield. Without proper security guarantees, there are many risks that can arise in this area. Therefore, any agreement formalized without Russia’s approval should take these risks into account,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian government said it could rejoin the grain export deal, but only if it met demands for loosening rules around Russia’s ability to export food and fertilizer. Western countries saw the decision as a move to use its control of food supplies to pressure for financial sanctions to be eased, even though they have allowed Russia to export food.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for the grain export deal to go ahead without Russia, indirectly appealing to Turkey for help in lifting the Russian blockade. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who brokered the deal, said he believed Moscow could be persuaded to return to the negotiating table.

Any efforts to resume Ukrainian grain exports without Russian involvement depend on insurers agreeing to provide cover, an option that industry sources told Reuters was being considered.

The slow counterattack

Russia's announcement of an advance around Kupiansk on Tuesday was a rare sign that Moscow was regaining the offensive since Kyiv launched a counter-offensive in June.

Both sides have suffered heavy losses in the bloodiest war in Europe since World War II, but the front lines have moved little since November 2022, despite a fierce Russian winter offensive and a subsequent Ukrainian counter-offensive.

“Over the past two days, the [Russian] side has been actively attacking in the Kupiansk area in the Kharkiv region,” Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on her Telegram channel.

“We continue to defend. The fighting is still intense and the positions of both sides have been changing several times a day.”

Oleksander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, described the situation in the area as “very complicated but under control.” Serhiy Cherevatyi, a spokesman for eastern Ukrainian forces, said the Russian military had massed more than 100,000 troops and 900 tanks in the area.

Ukraine's counteroffensive has made modest gains around Bakhmut and along two southern axes, but its fighting force, equipped with billions of dollars worth of Western weapons and ammunition, has yet to confront Russia's main defenses.

Kyiv authorities say their forces are deliberately advancing slowly to avoid heavy casualties on mine-strewn defensive lines, and are now focusing on wearing down Russian supply and command lines. Moscow insists the Ukrainian counter-offensive has failed.

Nguyen Quang Minh (According to Reuters)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/nga-dap-tra-bang-ten-lua-khi-rut-khoi-thoa-thuan-xuat-khau-ngu-coc-a617817.html