First the end of the grain agreement, then attacks on Odessa – now Moscow has issued a warning to shipping in the Black Sea. As of Thursday, ships heading for Ukrainian ports would be treated as possible adversaries.
After the end of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain, Russia wants to treat certain ships in parts of the Black Sea as possible adversaries. As of Thursday midnight (Wednesday, 11 p.m. CEST), ships heading for Ukrainian ports would be classified as “potential carriers of military cargo,” the Ministry of Defense announced in Moscow. Their flag states would then be classified as conflicting parties on the side of Ukraine.
A warning to shipping had been issued in connection with the end of the Black Sea Initiative, it said. Accordingly, areas of the north-west and south-east of the international waters of the Black Sea have been classified as dangerous for shipping.
Putin: Return only on Moscow’s terms
Under great international criticism, the Kremlin did not extend the grain agreement on Monday after about a year. As a result, security guarantees for the safe transport of agricultural goods from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports were canceled. As a reason, the Kremlin cited demands that had allegedly not been met.
According to the Interfax agency, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with government officials: “As soon as all of these conditions that we agreed on earlier are met (…), we will immediately return to this agreement.” Moscow claims that Western countries have not sufficiently implemented the promised relief for Russian fertilizer and food exports. The July 2022 agreement stipulated that Ukraine could ship grain from three Black Sea ports despite the Russian war of aggression.
Attacks on Odessa
On the night of Wednesday, Russian troops also attacked the southern Ukrainian metropolis of Odessa for the second time in a row with rockets and drones. It was the worst attack since the war began 17 months ago, Mayor Hennady Trukhanov wrote on Facebook. Many Ukrainian agricultural exports passed through the Black Sea port as part of the canceled agreement.
In an interview with the daily News said Ukrainian Minister of Agriculture Mykola Solskyj that the attacks destroyed tens of thousands of tons of grain and destroyed important technology. Further exports via the Black Sea are therefore uncertain. President Volodymyr Zelenskyj complained that Russia “deliberately” aimed at port facilities and grain stores.
Regarding the cancellation of the agreement and the recent attacks on Odessa, Andriy Yermak, head of the President’s Office in Kiev, said: “The Russian terror in Odessa proves once again: They need hunger and problems in the countries of the Global South. They want a refugee crisis for the West create.”
Wheat becomes more expensive
After the Russian attacks on Odessa, the price of wheat on the US futures markets rose by a good five percent to $6.69 a bushel. At the beginning of the week, grain had increased in value by 4.2 percent after Russia failed to extend the grain agreement.