Kremlin threatens but does nothing
Second freighter from Ukraine reaches safe waters
08/27/2023, 11:21 p.m
Russia terminates the grain agreement with Ukraine – and threatens it. If ships leave the country or reach it, they will be shot at. But that doesn’t happen. After the first freighter in mid-August, another can now sail through the Black Sea unmolested.
Almost six weeks after the failure of the grain agreement with Russia, according to Kiev, a second cargo ship has reached safe waters after leaving the port of Odessa in southern Ukraine. The Liberian-flagged freighter Primus, which is owned by a Singapore shipping company, “reached Romanian waters this Sunday after successfully passing through our temporary Black Sea Corridor,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in online networks. He thanked “everyone who made this possible”. According to him, the ship was loaded with steel for the African market.
On August 16, the container ship “Joseph Schulte” was the first freighter to cast off from Odessa since the end of the Grain Agreement. A day later the ship, which had been in the port of the Black Sea city since the beginning of the war, reached Istanbul.
In mid-July, Moscow withdrew from the grain agreement that had allowed Ukraine to transport grain across the Black Sea despite the war. Ukraine then opened sea lanes to merchant ships from several Black Sea ports in early August, despite Russia’s announcement that it would target any ship originating in Ukraine or heading to Ukraine in the Black Sea after the Grains Agreement expires.
Attacks in the Black Sea are increasing
Military tensions in the Black Sea have increased since Russia pulled out of the deal. Russia attacked Ukraine’s coastal and Danube port infrastructure, while Kiev attacked Russian ships.
Meanwhile, Russia reported an incident involving a US drone over the Black Sea on Sunday. The deployment of a fighter jet prevented the reconnaissance drone from penetrating Russian airspace, the Defense Ministry said in Moscow. “As the Russian warplane approached, the foreign reconnaissance drone made a U-turn and moved away from the state border of the Russian Federation.” However, this information cannot be independently verified.