Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of blowing up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline
“A Ukrainian sabotage group blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline”, about 2,400 kilometers long, which connects a Russian city on the banks of the Volga to the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi, near Odessa on the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. This explosion took place on Monday evening near Massiutovka, a small village controlled by Russian forces in the Kharkiv region (north-eastern Ukraine), almost all of which had been taken over by the Ukrainian army in the fall 2022, according to the same source.
The Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline is the longest in the world. Russia denounced a “terrorist act”. On Wednesday, the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, accused Ukraine of having “dealed a blow to the efforts of the UN in the fight against hunger”. “The only one who had no interest in the ammonia pipeline resuming work was the kyiv regime”said M.me Zakharova. “Several civilians were injured. We brought them all the necessary medical assistance.”says the statement from the Russian Defense Ministry, which also accused Ukraine, according to the Russian agency Interfax.
For their part, the Ukrainian authorities blame the Russians for the attack. Governor of Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehoubovcalled the attack a “terrorist”.
Infrastructure is at the heart of the negotiations on the extension of the agreement on grain exports from the Black Sea ports. Russia agreed last month to extend the deal for another two months, but said it would end it if barriers to its own grain and fertilizer exports were not lifted. The gas pipeline, designed to transport up to 2.5 million tonnes of ammonia per year from Russia’s Volga region to the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi, near Odessa on the Black Sea, is on hold since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
A video, released by both a Russian military blogger and a Ukrainian military journalist, shows the scene of the explosion.