MOSCOW/ KIEV — Russia has performed an abrupt U-turn and again agreed to allow the safe shipment of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told his Turkish counterpart on Wednesday that Moscow has agreed to return to the Turkish and UN-brokered deal.
In a statement, the ministry later confirmed that Ukraine had pledged not to use a designated Black Sea corridor to attack Russian forces.
“The Russian Federation considers that the guarantees received at the moment appear sufficient, and resumes the implementation of the agreement,” the ministry statement said.
Moscow had suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing allegations of a Ukrainian drone attack against its Black Sea fleet.
The Defense Ministry also said it would summon the UK ambassador to Moscow, claiming that “British specialists” were involved in the drone strike in Crimea. Ukraine did not claim responsibility for the attack and Britain has denied involvement.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that “unacceptable” ship traffic from ports in southern Ukraine was halted. Ships loaded with grain departed Ukraine on Tuesday despite Russia’s absence from the deal.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Moscow had informed Ankara that the grain corridor agreement would “continue in the same way as before”.
Erdogan said on Wednesday that the deal would prioritize the shipment of critical food supplies to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti, and Sudan.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths has stated that 23% of the total cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower or lower-to-middle-income countries.
But the United Nations had said vessels would not move on Wednesday, raising concerns about future shipments. Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated that Moscow “reserves the right” to quit the agreement again if Kiev “violates [their] guarantees”.
Also continued Russian shelling across nine regions in southern and eastern Ukraine resulted in the deaths of at least four civilians and the wounding of 17 others between Tuesday and Wednesday, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office.
The shelling also pounded cities and villages retaken by Ukraine last month in the northeastern Kharkiv region, wounding seven people. Russian fire damaged a hospital and apartment buildings in the Donetsk region city of Toretsk, according to the region’s governor.
Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Ukrainian and Russian forces continued to fight for control of the cities of Avdiivka and Bakhmut.
Power outages were also reported in the southern cities of Nikopol and Chervonohryhorivka following “a large-scale drone attack,” Dnipropetrovsk Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said.
The two cities are located across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility.
Russia and Ukraine have for months traded blame for shelling around the plant that the UN’s nuclear watchdog warned could cause a radiation emergency.
In another development, Britain’s government has sanctioned four more Russian oligarchs, including the former head of steel producer Evraz.
Those sanctioned include Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, who are described as known associates of oligarch and former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
They were targeted for their involvement in the transport, and construction sectors, the UK government said. Evraz was also sanctioned by Britain for operating in sectors of “strategic significance to the government of Russia”.
“Today we are sanctioning an additional four oligarchs who rely on Putin for their positions of authority and in turn fund his military machine,” UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Wednesday.
“By targeting these individuals, we are ramping up the economic pressure on Putin and will continue to do so until Ukraine prevails.”
The sanctions implemented include travel bans, asset freezes, and transport sanctions, the foreign office said. — Euronews
