Kremlin pulls out of grain deal after drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea flagship vessel in Crimea; UN and US call on Moscow to reverse its decision
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy claimed his forces repelled a “fierce offensive” by Russian troops in the eastern Donetsk region. “Today they stopped the fierce offensive actions of the enemy,” Zelenskiy said in his Sunday night address. “The Russian attack was repelled.” The fiercest fighting in Donetsk region has been around the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Russia’s Black Sea flagship vessel, the Admiral Makarov, was damaged and possibly disabled during an audacious Ukrainian drone attack over the weekend on the Crimean port of Sevastopol, according to an examination of video footage. Open-source investigators said the frigate was one of three Russian ships to have been hit on Saturday. A swarm of drones struck Russia’s navy at 4.20am. Aides to Zelenskiy hinted the country was behind the well-orchestrated raid, though his government has not claimed responsibility.
In the wake of the Sevastopol attack the Kremlin said it was pulling out of a UN-brokered grain deal that allows civilian ships to export grain and fertiliser from Black Sea ports. Russia claimed it could not “guarantee safety of civilian ships” travelling under the pact after the attack on its Black Sea fleet. Zelenskiy, however, said Moscow was looking for a pretext to end the initiative. It had been “deliberately aggravating” the food crisis since September, he said in a video address.
The international community condemned Russia’s decision to suspend the UN-brokered Black Sea grain initiative. US president Joe Biden described the move as “purely outrageous” while US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said Russia was weaponising food. The European Union called on Russia to reverse its decision. “Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risk the main export route of much-needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said he was “deeply concerned” by Russia’s suspension of the deal and delayed his departure to attend the Arab League summit in Algiers for a day to try to revive it. Russia requested a meeting on Monday of the UN’s security council to discuss the issue. Guterres was engaged in “intense contacts” to get the agreement back and spoke to the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell.
The United Nations, Turkey and Ukraine said they will press ahead to implement a Black Sea grain deal with a transit plan in place for 16 ships on Monday, despite Russia suspending its participation in the pact. The UN, Nato, the EU and the US have all urged Russia to reverse its decision to pull out of the deal. In a statement, the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, where Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish and UN personnel are working, said the three delegations had also agreed for inspections to be provided on Monday to 40 outbound vessels.
Kyiv’s infrastructure ministry said on Sunday that 218 vessels were now “effectively blocked” in its ports – 22 loaded and stuck at ports, 95 loaded and departed from ports, and 101 awaiting inspections.
Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, expressed “hope” that Joe Biden will recall the 1962 Cuban missile crisis when dealing with the war in Ukraine. In an interview for a Russian state television documentary on Sunday, Lavrov said there were “similarities” between the ongoing war in Ukraine and the 1962 confrontation. “I hope that in today’s situation, President Joe Biden will have more opportunities to understand who gives orders and how,” Lavrov said. “The difference is that in the distant 1962, Khrushchev and Kennedy found the strength to show responsibility and wisdom, and now we do not see such readiness on the part of Washington and its satellites,” he added.
