Preparations have accelerated for the restart of shipping from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, as Kyiv’s forces launched a rocket strike on a major river crossing in occupied southern Ukraine to disrupt Russian supply lines in the area before a planned counterattack.
Turkey formally opened a joint co-ordination centre (JCC) in Istanbul on Wednesday to oversee the resumption of grain shipments from Ukraine, under deals it brokered with the United Nations and which Kyiv and Moscow signed last Friday.
The centre will be staffed by representatives of the warring neighbours and of Turkey and the UN, as part of operations that could bring some 20 million tonnes of trapped Ukrainian grain to market and ease fears of hunger in some parts of the world.
“The staff working at this centre are aware that the eyes of the world are upon them,” Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said at the opening ceremony. “It is our hope that the centre will make the greatest contribution possible to humanitarian needs and peace.”
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Mr Akar said cargo ships would be monitored by satellite at the co-ordination centre and inspected at sea by “joint teams” to ensure they are not carrying weapons or fighters.
Ukraine has said the vessels will form “convoys” and be guided through the country’s coastal waters by pilot ships to ensure they remain in safe channels and well away from any sea mines.
The Ukrainian navy said on Wednesday that “work had resumed” in the three Black Sea ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny, and that specialists were checking potential routes to ensure it is safe for shipping to restart after five months under Russian blockade.
Kyiv and western allies say Russia’s control of the Black Sea approaches to Ukraine’s coast has made shipping impossible and risks causing a food crisis in parts of Africa and Asia, while Moscow blames western sanctions and Ukraine’s mining of its own ports for food supply fears.
“The situation in Ukraine did additionally negatively affect food markets, but not due to the Russian special operation, rather due to the absolutely inadequate reaction of the West, which announced sanctions,” Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said of the “so-called food crisis” during a visit to Ethiopia.
Russian forces are still making slow gains in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine and claim to have taken control of a major coal-fired power station at Vuhlehirsk; Kyiv said fighting was continuing in the area but did not confirm the loss of the power plant.
Ukraine says it is gearing up for a counterattack in the southern Kherson region and, early on Wednesday, launched a second rocket attack on the Antonivskyi bridge over the Dnipro river, which is on a key route to Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
Moscow-installed officials in Kherson said the bridge was now unusable but insisted that Russian military supply routes would not be badly affected.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said “the occupiers should learn how to swim across the Dnipro river. Or should leave Kherson while it is still possible. There may not be a third warning.”
On Wednesday, Russia’s Gazprom halved the amount of natural gas flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Europe to 20 per cent of capacity.
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It is the latest reduction that Russia has blamed on technical problems but which Germany calls a political move to sow uncertainty and push up prices.
The Russian state-controlled energy giant announced on Monday that it would slash flows on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that runs to Germany because of equipment repairs.
Meanwhile, RT, the Kremlin-backed broadcaster, lost its bid to overturn a European Union ban following the invasion of Ukraine, prompting the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to threaten retaliation against “western media”.
The EU General Court, the bloc’s second-highest court, dismissed the appeal in a ruling on Wednesday.
The EU “cannot be criticised for a temporary ban on content “by certain media outlets funded by the Russian state, on the ground that those outlets would support the Russian Federation’s military aggression against Ukraine, the EU court ruled”. – Additional reporting: Agencies
