Russia yesterday launched more than 50 missiles at Ukrainian energy targets, causing power outages in hundreds of locations, two days after accusing Ukraine of an attack on the Black Sea fleet and suspending the Ukrainian grain export agreement. , which the United Nations and Turkey are now trying to save.
The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, yesterday expressed his country’s commitment to maintain the agreement signed on July 22 and which allowed the resumption of exports of more than 9.5 million tons of wheat and other Ukrainian foods through a humanitarian corridor from three ports of the Black Sea Strait.
recover the negotiation
“Although Russia has doubts about it because it is not provided with the same facilities (to export grain and fertilizers), we will continue to strive to serve humanity,” the president said.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar intends to speak to his Russian counterpart, Serguei Shoigu, to try to salvage the deal.
The UN coordinator of the agreement, Amir Abdulla, tweeted for his part that civilian bulk carriers “can never be a military target or be taken hostage. Food must circulate.
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres delayed his trip to Algiers following Russia’s suspension of the agreement.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky accused Russia of “blackmailing the world with hunger” by suspending the agreement, which was to expire on November 19 but which Moscow had already slowed down by blocking 218 waiting ships, transporting grain or entering Ukrainian ports .
Russia had already warned that the extension of the agreement was in doubt, considering that the part of the pact that allowed it to export Russian grain and fertilizers had not been respected.
Attack on infrastructure
The Russian reaction to the Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on the Black Sea, in which the ‘Iván Golubets’ minesweeper was damaged, was once again a massive attack on the Ukrainian energy infrastructure. Russia has launched more than 50 missiles from the Caspian Sea and the city of Rostov.
The Russian Defense Ministry confirmed that “attacks with high-precision and long-range weapons against the military command and energy systems of Ukraine continued”.
Although the Ukrainian air force shot down 44 missiles in the central, south, east and west of the country, the rest hit 18 civilian targets, mostly energy, in ten regions, including Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Kharkov, according to the former. Ukrainian minister Nega Shmyhal. “Hundreds of cities in seven Ukrainian regions were left without electricity,” he noted.
In Kiev, the mayor of the capital, Vitaliy Klitschko, indicated that 350,000 homes were left without electricity and that, moreover, 80% of consumers were left without water supply.
The deputy chief of staff of the Ukrainian president, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, explained that “emergency power outages” have been introduced.
At least 13 civilians were injured in the attacks, according to National Police Chief Ihor Klymenko.
“Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia is fighting civilians,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted.
Furthermore, Ukraine claims that Russian troops used Moldova’s airspace in the attacks. “Russia has violated the airspace of another state,” said the spokesman for President Volodimir Zelensky, Serheii Nikiforov.
The violation of the airspace of another country refers to the Russian missile shot down by the anti-aircraft defenses in Moldovan territory, near the border with Ukraine, which has prompted an investigation by the Moldovan authorities.
