Kyiv: A day after pulling out of a UN-backed agreement to permit Kyiv to export grain, Russia attacked Ukrainian ports on Tuesday. Moscow claimed gains on the ground in an area where Ukrainian officials claimed Russian forces were resuming the offensive.
In retaliation for attacks by Ukrainian seaborne drones that destroyed its road bridge to the occupied Crimean Peninsula, Russia launched a barrage of missile and drone attacks on Ukraine's ports, which it described as "mass revenge strikes."
The United Nations warned that Moscow's withdrawal from a one-year-old grain export deal could lead to hunger throughout the world shortly after the bridge was struck on Monday.
Also Read: Attack victims criticize the UK compensation program
According to Ukraine's southern operational military command, falling debris and blast waves in Odesa, the main port for Russia, damaged a number of homes and unspecified port infrastructure. Another port, Mykolaiv, had a serious fire, according to local authorities.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the presidential staff for Ukraine, stated that the Russian attacks on ports are "further proof that the country-terrorist wants to endanger the lives of 400 million people in various countries that depend on Ukrainian food exports."
Six Kalibr missiles and 31 out of 36 drones, according to the Ukrainian air force, were shot down. Moscow claimed to have stopped a Ukrainian drone attack on Crimea, preventing significant ground damage, and to have reopened one lane of traffic on the Crimea bridge.
Russia is waging a ground offensive of its own in the northeast, six weeks after Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the east and south.
The frontline railroad hub of Kupiansk, which was retaken by Ukraine in an offensive last year, was within 2 km of where Russia's defense ministry reported that its forces had advanced. Russia was reportedly making a significant push in the area, and Kyiv acknowledged intense fighting there. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the details. Since the start of Ukraine's counteroffensive last month, Kyiv has retaken a few villages in the south and the area around Bakhmut's destroyed city in the east, but it has not yet attempted to make a significant advance across fiercely defended Russian lines.
Also Read: Kim Yo Jong of North Korea urges the US to stop a "foolish act" that endangers security
One of the few diplomatic victories of the war, the Black Sea grain export agreement that was negotiated a year ago by Turkiye and the UN lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and averted a global food crisis.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the largest exporters of grains and other foods in the world. The world's poorest nations would be hardest hit if Ukrainian grain was once more barred from the market. According to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, "today's decision by the Russian Federation will strike a blow to people in need everywhere."
Russia claims it could rejoin the grain agreement, but only if rules governing its own exports of food and fertilizer are relaxed. In the West, that is referred to as an effort to use food supplies as leverage to weaken financial sanctions, which already allow for exceptions to allow Russia to sell food.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has requested that the grain agreement go forward without Russia's involvement, essentially enlisting Turkey's support to counter the Russian blockade. The deal's promoter, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, asserts that he believes Moscow can be persuaded to return.
Without Russia's assistance, any attempt to resume Ukrainian grain shipments would likely depend on insurance companies agreeing to provide coverage. Reuters was informed by industry sources that they are thinking about the implications. The risk of trying to export grain from Ukraine without Russian security guarantees, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who also claimed that Ukraine uses the waters for military purposes.
Since Kyiv began its counteroffensive last month, Moscow has rarely attempted to go back on the offensive, but Tuesday's claim that it had advanced around Kupiansk was a rare indication. Despite a significant Russian winter offensive followed by Ukraine's counterassault, both sides in Europe's bloodiest conflict since World War Two have suffered excruciating losses. Despite this, front lines have only shifted slightly since last November.
Hanna Maliar, the deputy defense minister for Ukraine, posted on Telegram, "The enemy has been actively on the offensive in the Kupiansk sector in the Kharkiv region for the past two days."
"We're protecting. There is fierce fighting going on, and both sides' positions constantly shift throughout the day.
The commander of Ukraine's ground forces, Oleksander Syrskyi, described the situation there as "complicated but under control." According to Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesman for the eastern coalition of Ukrainian forces, the Russian military has gathered more than 100,000 soldiers and more than 900 tanks in the region.
Also Read: North of Athens, a wildfire burns forests; fires in the southeast and west grow weaker
The Ukrainian counteroffensive has made modest progress near Bakhmut and along two major axes in the south, but its assault force, which is armed with new Western weapons and ammunition valued at billions of dollars, has not yet come face to face with the main Russian defensive line.
In order to prevent high casualties on fortified defensive lines covered in land mines, Kyiv claims it is moving slowly and is currently concentrating on undermining Russian logistics and command. The Ukrainian counteroffensive, according to Moscow, has failed.