Ukraine will export grain under Russian threat to continue attacking “any military infrastructure”

The Kremlin is clear, Russia will not stop attacking under any concept. Not even to facilitate compliance with the agreement signed on grain exports.

This is how the government led by Vladimir Putin made it known this Monday: Ukrainian cereal exports from the port of Odessa can be carried out in accordance with the signed agreement under the auspices of the UN, despite Russia’s bombing of port infrastructure. The shelling “is only aimed at the military infrastructure. It has nothing to do with the infrastructure used for the implementation of the grain export agreement,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said.

“That is why it cannot and should not hinder the start of the charging process,” Peskov said. For its part, Sergei Lavrovthe Russian foreign minister, did not miss the opportunity to leave the door open to attack any target that they consider “military infrastructure”.

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In this way, the head of Russian diplomacy assured that within the framework of the pact on grain, Russia has not promised to cease its military campaign and stop “destroying the military infrastructure and other military objectives” in Ukraine. Along the same lines, Lavrov added that the target attacked last Saturday in the odessa port it is “very far” from the facilities that will be used for the export of the grain.

“There is no impediment for the grain to start being supplied to its claimants, in accordance with what was signed in Istanbul,” he said during a visit to Congo, as part of his tour of several African countries. Thus, in this context, Russia and Ukraine are finalizing the steps to implement the grain export agreement reached in Turkey, while the fighting continues in Donbas and southern Ukraine.

“We hope that the agreement will start to work in the next few days,” Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister said on Monday. Oleksandr Kubrakov. According to his estimates, the reopening of the ports will allow monthly exports of about three million tons, which will bring Ukraine additional income of more than 1,000 million euros.

Kubrakov stressed that in Istanbul, where the pact was signed on July 22, a coordination center will be created to supervise the operation of the humanitarian corridor for the export of grain, which will begin operating on Wednesday, July 27. According to the latest statement published on the website of the Administration of Sea Ports of Ukrainepreparations are being made to resume the work of the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny, all located on the Black Sea.

The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Yuri Vaskov, pointed out, for his part, that, if everything goes according to plan, the first shipment of grain will leave this week from the port of Chernomorsk, in the Odessa region. It must also be remembered that youFollowing the attacks launched on Saturday against the commercial port of Odessa, Ukraine accused Russia of “spitting in the face” of the UN and Turkey and stated that Russia must bear “full responsibility” if the agreement is broken.

On the battlefield, the fighting between the Russian and Ukrainian forces continued on the last day without major advances, but not without pause due to preparations for the export of grain, confirming the words of the Russian Foreign Minister. According to the daily British intelligence report, hostilities continue both in the donbasas in the southern region of Kherson, almost entirely controlled by Russian troops since the beginning of March.

The British military emphasizes that “Russian commanders continue to face a dilemma, whether to allocate resources to the offensive in the east or to reinforce the defense in the west.” Meanwhile, the American Institute for War Studies (ISW) stresses in its latest report that Ukrainian officials are increasingly acknowledging the Ukrainian counter-offensive actions in the Kherson region.

Kherson Region Management Advisor, Serhiy Khlansaid on July 24 that Ukrainian forces have switched from defense to counteroffensive in this region, which would be “completely liberated” from Russian troops by September. Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenski had said the day before that Ukrainian forces were advancing “step by step” in Kherson, which borders the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014.

According to the ISW, over the past week, Ukrainian attacks damaged the three Russian-controlled bridges leading to Kherson. Russia said in turn that it prevented the landing of “saboteurs” in two combat boats in Kherson in recent hours.

Also the Kherson authorities designated by Russia reported “unsuccessful attacks” by Ukrainian forces on the region and assured that kyiv deliberately magnifies the situation in the area in a attempt to get more support from their western partners. Precisely in this same line Lavrov accused the West of “artificially exaggerating” the global crisis stemming from the war with Ukraine.

It was also during his aforementioned visit to the Republic of Congo and after meeting with the country’s president, Denis Sassou Nguessowho made these statements: “We do not approve of the attempts to use the situation in Ukraine as a pretext to forget the long-standing conflicts that have been going on for decades without being resolved and in which the West has adopted a very timid position, such as the case of Israel and Palestine”.

It should be borne in mind that Lavrov began his tour of the continent this past Sunday in Egypt, during which he will also visit Uganda and Ethiopiaon a trip that will overlap in time with the African tour of French President Emmanuel Macron, which starts this Tuesday and will include Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau.

“There are many unresolved crises on the African continent and we welcome the role played by the Republic of Congo and his presidency in mobilizing resources to solve them,” added the Russian minister, referring to the role of mediator that Sassou Nguesso has played in countries such as Libya or the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR). In this regard, Lavrov revealed the Congolese president’s intention to organize a “national reconciliation” conference in 2022 with representation from all the parties involved in the Libyan crisis.

The Russian minister also thanked Brazzaville, capital of the Congo, the “cooperation in international platforms” and highlighted that “they have close and coincident positions in most of the issues discussed in the UN and other multilateral forums”. As it could not be otherwise, the Republic of the Congo was one of the countries that abstained in the vote on a resolution condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine finally approved by the United Nations General Assembly at the beginning of last month March.