Early on Monday Russia announced that abandoned the agreementor that allows the exit of grain through the Black Sea from the Ukrainian ports. He claimed that his demands to ease the sanctions the West has imposed were not being met. to their agricultural exports.
With this move Moscow left the world holding its breath again: a prolonged maritime blockade can aggravate the food crisis global economy and plunge millions of people in the Middle East and Africa into famine, as the United Nations (UN) has warned on numerous occasions.
Not content, however, with blowing up the pact reached A year ago, thanks to the mediation of Turkey and the UN, and which has facilitated the export of almost 33 million tons of grain in the middle of the war, Russia bombarded the main Ukrainian ports with cruise missiles for two consecutive nights. Specifically, he launched an attack on the port infrastructures of Odessa and Chornomorskfrom where shipments of Ukrainian grain leave.
[Sin tregua para Kupiansk: Rusia contraataca en el este de Járkov con más de 100.000 soldados]
For the Kremlin, the attacks on these infrastructures are a “retaliation” for the recent attack on the Kerch bridge, and also a preventive measure when reaching what it assures was a terminal “where terrorist acts were prepared with unmanned boats. against Russia” and “maritime drones are manufactured.
That doesn’t seem to be enough for Moscow either, which on Wednesday warned that starting at midnight it would consider “all ships sailing through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports potential carriers of military cargo“and, therefore, potential war targets. “They will be considered to be involved in the conflict in Ukraine on the side of the Kiev regime,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement.
A view shows a grain terminal at a seaport damaged during Russian missile and drone attacks on Odessa.
Also, the Russian authorities indicated that several maritime areas in the northwestern and southeastern part of the international waters of the Black Sea were going to be declared “temporarily dangerous for navigation“.
After the announcement, Russian President Vladimir Putin came out to explain. In a televised meeting with senior officials, he blamed Western countries for having “completely distorted” the grain export agreement, which he said he would return to. “immediately” when all the conditions for doing so are met. In other words, when their demands to ease the international sanctions that weigh on the Russian economy.
The alternative route from kyiv
Given Putin’s decision to end a safe maritime corridor, Ukraine is trying to establish a temporary shipping route without the participation of Russia. All to “facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the northwestern part of the Black Sea,” according to an official letter sent by Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukrainian interim minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, to the UN International Maritime Organization.
Specifically, as the Kiev government advanced on Tuesday in statements collected by Efe, the possibility of transporting food through the Danube ports and towards the European Union despite being aware that they are insufficient to compensate the capacity of the Black Sea corridor formed by the ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdennyi.
