KYIV —
Russia’s blockade of grain exports makes it
“impossible” for fully loaded ships to leave port, Ukraine claimed Sunday after
Moscow said drone attacks on its Crimea fleet had exploited the grain corridor
safe zone.
اضافة اعلان
Kyiv’s maritime
grain exports were halted after Russia pulled out of a landmark agreement that
allowed the vital shipments.
The July deal to
unlock grain exports signed between Russia and Ukraine and brokered by Turkey
and the
UN, is critical to easing the global food crisis caused by the
conflict.
“(A) bulk
carrier loaded with 40 tonnes of grain was supposed to leave the Ukraine port
today,” infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted.
“These
foodstuffs were intended for Ethiopians, that are on the verge of famine. But
due to the blockage of the ‘grain corridor’ by Russia the export is
impossible,” the Ukrainian minister said.
The agreement
had already allowed more than 9 million tonnes of
Ukrainian grain to be
exported and was due to be renewed on November 19.
Russia’s defense
ministry alleged Sunday the attack drones had “Canadian-made navigation
modules”, saying it had recovered debris from some of the weapons in the
sea.
Specialists had
“conducted an examination of Canadian-made navigation modules installed on the
marine unmanned vehicles”, the ministry said.
On Saturday
Russia announced its suspension after accusing Kyiv of a “massive” drone attack
on the Black Sea fleet, which Ukraine labelled a “false pretext”.
US President
Joe Biden called the move “purely outrageous” while Secretary of State Antony
Blinken said Moscow was “weaponizing food”.
UN
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday expressed “deep concern” about the
situation, his spokesman said, and delayed his departure for an Arab League
Summit in Algiers by a day “to focus on the issue”.
The EU on Sunday
urged Russia to “revert its decision”.
Enough grain to
‘feed millions’
The center coordinating the logistics of the deal said in a statement
that no traffic was planned for Sunday.
“A joint
agreement has not been reached at the (joint coordination center) for the
movement of inbound and outbound vessels on 30 October,” it said. “There are
more than 10 vessels both outbound and inbound waiting to enter the corridor.”
Turkey’s defense
ministry later Sunday said ships would not leave Ukraine “during this period”
but Turkey would continue checks of ships in Istanbul carrying Ukrainian grain
“today and tomorrow”.
It also said
Russia had formally notified
Turkey of its suspension but “Russian personnel
remained at the coordination center” in Istanbul.
Ukraine’s
foreign minister said on Twitter that Russia was blocking “2 million tonnes of
grain on 176 vessels already at sea” that he said was “enough to feed 7 million
people.”
He accused
Moscow of having planned to “resume its hunger games” in advance and said the
Black Sea explosions were “220km away from the grain corridor”.
‘Peddling false
claims’
Kyiv and the UN earlier urged that the agreement remain in force.
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky called Russia’s move “an absolutely transparent intention of
Russia to return the threat of large-scale famine to Africa and Asia”.
Sevastopol in
Crimea has been targeted several times in recent months and serves as the Black
Sea fleet’s headquarters and a logistical hub for operations in Ukraine.
Russia’s army
claimed to have “destroyed” nine aerial drones and seven maritime ones in an
attack on the port early Saturday.
Moscow’s
military said ships targeted at their Crimean base were involved in the grain
deal.
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