Two cargo ships arrived and docked in southern Ukraine over the weekend, the first to make the risky trip to pick up grain from a Black Sea port since Russia scuttled a deal this summer that allowed safe exports.
The civilian carriers used a temporary sea corridor established by Ukraine after Russia withdrew from the grain agreement and threatened that it would consider any Ukraine-bound vessels in the Black Sea to be military targets.
The two Palau-flagged carriers will haul some 20,000 tons of wheat to Asia and Africa, where developing countries rely on food supplies from Ukraine. Russia’s departure from the exports deal has both threatened food shortages in poor countries and put pressure on food prices around the world.
The temporary Black Sea corridor opened in early August, and both U.S. and Ukrainian officials have warned of possible Russian attacks on civilian vessels. The region also is loaded with sea mines.
AP
An assault unit commander from the 3rd Assault Brigade who goes by the call sign ‘Fedia’ raises the Ukrainian flag as a symbol of liberation of the frontline village of Andriivka on Saturday.
On the battlefields, Ukraine reported a significant victory Sunday with the recapture of the village of Klishchiivka, south of the city of Bakhmut which fell to Russian control in May after a months-long battle.
“Klishchiivka was cleared of the Russians and liberated,” Alexander Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Command of Klischiivka and its heights gives Ukrainian forces a tactically useful view into Russian-occupied Bakhmut, opening up opportunities to encircle the town and monitor enemy logistic lines in the region.
The retaking of Klischiivka from Russian troops came days after Ukraine said it also liberated a nearby village called Andriivka.
“Ukraine always gets its own back,” the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote Sunday on Telegram.
Russian officials had no immediate comment on Ukraine’s claims.
Russia has been increasingly attacking ports and grain silos in southern Odessa since ditching the grain deal in July, and Sunday, Ukraine’s Air Force Command reported an overnight attack targeting the Odesa region.
Russia fired 10 cruise missiles and six drones, Ukrainian authorities said. All the drones and six missiles were downed, and the rest hit an agricultural facility, they said.
Russian authorities, meanwhile, reported Ukrainian drones early Sunday were targeting the Crimean peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014. The Kremlin said it thwarted the attack on Crimea by downing six Ukrainian drones.
Russia also said two drones were downed overnight near Moscow. While there were no reported casualties or damage, several flights were delayed or canceled at the Russian capital’s major airports.
Meanwhile, Poland, which shares a land border with the Russian territory of Kaliningrad, started enforcing a European Union ban Sunday on all Russian-registered passenger cars, part of the sanctions aimed at Russia over its invasion. Poland also shares borders with Ukraine and with Russia’s ally Belarus,
Under the EU’s ruling, motor vehicles registered in the Russian Federation are no longer allowed to enter the 27-member bloc.
“This is another element of the sanctions imposed on Russia and its citizens in connection with the brutal war in Ukraine, due to the fact that the Russian state today constitutes a threat to international security,” said Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski.
The nearby Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia also recently implemented the ban on vehicles with Russian license plates.
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, has condemned the ban as racist.
The war in Ukraine will likely be a major topic of discussion this week at the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Heads of state from 145 countries, including President Biden, are scheduled to speak beginning Tuesday.
On Monday, Russia and Ukraine also face off before the International Court of Justice at the Hague over claims by Moscow that its invasion of Ukraine was done to prevent genocide.
Ukraine brought the case to the United Nations’ highest court soon after the February 2022 start of the invasion, claiming Russia was abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine.
Russia wants the case thrown out and objects to the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice. Set to run until Sept. 27, the hearings are focused on legal arguments of jurisdiction rather than the merits of the case.
While Russia has ignored previous orders by the International Court, which has no enforcement powers, experts say a ruling in favor of Ukraine could be important to any future compensation and reparations claims.
With News Wire Services
Ellen Wulfhorst
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