- Three grain ships leave Ukrainian ports
- First ship to arrive in Ukraine since the start of the war
- Eastern struggle “hell”, says Zelenskiy
- Amnesty says Ukrainian troops endanger civilians
- NATO chief warns Putin not to go further
ISTANBUL/Kyiv, Aug 5 (Reuters) – Three ships loaded with grain left Ukrainian ports on Friday under a recently signed safe passage agreement, the Turkish Defense Ministry and Reuters witnesses said.
The first grain ship to leave a Ukrainian port since the start of the Russian invasion left Odesa on Monday.
“We hope that the security guarantees of our UN partners and Turkey will continue to work, and food exports from our ports will become stable and predictable for all market participants,” said the Minister of Infrastructure d ‘Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, on Facebook after the departure of the ships. .
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In a rare diplomatic breakthrough in the five-month war, the United Nations and Turkey have brokered a safe passage deal between Moscow and Kyiv, after the United Nations warned of famines due to the halt in grain shipments from Ukraine .
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, sparking Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and sparking a global energy and food crisis. Ukraine and Russia produce about a third of the world’s wheat, and Russia is Europe’s main energy supplier.
On Friday, two grain ships left from Chornomorsk and one from Odesa, with a total of about 58,000 tons of corn.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said on Twitter that the Panamanian-flagged Navistar, carrying 33,000 tonnes of maize bound for Ireland, left Odesa.
The Maltese-flagged Rojen, carrying 13,000 tonnes of maize, left the port of Chornomorsk bound for Great Britain. The Turkish-flagged ship Polarnet, carrying 12,000 tons of corn, left Chornomorsk for the Turkish port of Karasu on the Black Sea.
The Odesa regional administration expected the Liberian-flagged Turkish carrier Osprey S to arrive at the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk on Friday. It would be the first ship to reach a Ukrainian port during the war.
Ukraine has called for the grain deal to be expanded to include other products, such as metals, the Financial Times reported.
“This agreement is about logistics, about the movement of ships through the Black Sea,” Ukrainian Deputy Economy Minister Taras Kachka told the newspaper.
“What is the difference between grain and iron ore?”
ORIENTAL “HELL”.
After five months of fighting, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy this week described the pressure his armed forces were under in the eastern Donbas region as “hell”.
Moscow seeks to control the largely Russian-speaking Donbas, made up of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, where pro-Moscow separatists gained control of the territory after the Kremlin annexed Crimea in the south in 2014.
Zelenskiy spoke of fierce fighting around the town of Avdiivka and the fortified village of Pisky, where Ukraine has acknowledged the “partial success” of its Russian enemy in recent days.
The Ukrainian military said on Thursday that Russian forces had launched at least two assaults on Pisky but had been repulsed.
Ukraine has spent the past eight years fortifying defensive positions in Pisky, seeing it as a buffer zone against Russian-backed forces that control the city of Donetsk about 10 km to the southeast.
Ukrainian General Oleksiy Hromov told a news conference that his forces had recaptured two villages around the eastern town of Sloviansk, but had been pushed into the town of Avdiivka after being forced to abandon a coal mine considered an important defensive position.
The Russian defense ministry confirmed its offensive.
Reuters could not immediately verify either party’s claims.
The war in Ukraine has displaced millions, killed thousands of civilians and left cities, towns and villages in ruins. Ukraine and its Western allies have accused Russian forces of targeting civilians and war crimes, accusations Russia rejects.
On Friday, Ukraine’s General Staff said Russian shelling of dozens of cities across the country had once again targeted civilian settlements and military infrastructure.
NATO WARNING
Human rights group Amnesty International said on Thursday that Ukraine was endangering civilians by basing troops in residential areas. Read more
Zelenskiy responded by saying the group was trying to “shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim.” Read more
The White House said it expected Russian officials to try to frame Ukrainian forces for an attack on the frontline town of Olenivka last week that killed prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists. Read more
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN responded in a post on Twitter, saying that US high mobility artillery rocket systems were used in the attack.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday he would launch a fact-finding mission after both sides called for an investigation. Read more
Putin says he launched his “special military operation” in Ukraine to ensure Russian security and protect Russian speakers in Ukraine.
Ukraine and the West describe Russia’s actions as an unprovoked imperial-style war of aggression.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday that the war was the most dangerous time for Europe since World War II and that Russia must not be allowed to win. Read more
Amid fears among some politicians in the West that Russia’s ambitions could extend beyond Ukraine, Stoltenberg warned Putin that the response to such a move would be overwhelming.
“If President Putin even thinks about doing something similar to a NATO country as he has done with Georgia, Moldova or Ukraine, then all of NATO will be immediately involved,” Stoltenberg said.
The war has prompted previously non-aligned Finland and Sweden to seek NATO membership, with the request so far ratified by 23 of the 30 member states, including the United States.
(This story is being updated again to update the headline to show that the ships have left)
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Michael Perry; Editing by Stephen Coates, Robert Birsel
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.