Shift in war’s front seen as grain leaves Ukraine
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Six more ships carrying agricultural cargo held up by the war in Ukraine received authorization, Sunday, to leave the country’s Black Sea coast as analysts warned that Russia was moving troops and equipment in the direction of the southern port cities to stave off a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Ukraine and Russia also accused each other of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
The loaded vessels were cleared to depart from Chornomorsk and Odesa, according to the Joint Coordination Center, which oversees an international deal intended to get some 20 million tons of grain out of Ukraine to feed millions going hungry in Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia.
Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations signed the agreements, last month, to create a 111-nautical-mile sea corridor that would allow cargo ships to travel safely out of ports that Russia’s military had blockaded and through waters that Ukraine’s military had mined. Implementation of the deal, which is in effect for four months, has proceeded slowly since the first ship embarked, on Aug. 1.
Four of the carriers cleared, Sunday, to leave Ukraine were transporting more than 219,000 tons of corn. The fifth was carrying more than 6,600 tons of sunflower oil and the sixth 11,000 tons of soya, the Joint Coordination Center said.
Three other cargo ships that left, Friday, passed their inspections and received clearance, Sunday, to pass through Turkey’s Bosporus Strait on the way to their final destinations, the Center said.
However, the vessel that left Ukraine, last Monday, with great fanfare as the first under the grain exports deal had its scheduled arrival in Lebanon delayed Sunday, according to a Lebanese Cabinet minister and the Ukraine Embassy. The cause of the delay was not immediately clear.
Ukrainian officials were initially skeptical of a grain export deal, citing suspicions that Moscow would try to exploit shipping activity to mass troops offshore or send longrange missiles from the Black Sea, as it has done multiple times during the war.
The agreements call for ships to leave Ukraine under military escort and to undergo inspections to make sure they carry only grain, fertilizer or food and not any other commodities. Inbound cargo vessels are checked to ensure they are not carrying weapons.
In a weekend analysis, Britain’s Defense Ministry said the Russian invasion, that started Feb. 24, “is about to enter a new phase” in which the fighting would shift to a roughly 217-mile front.