Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday
October 31st that Ukraine would continue to export grain from the
Black Sea ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne as part of a deal agreed in
July between Ukraine, the UN, Turkey and Russia, despite Russia suspending the
agreement and warning that vessels transiting the corridor “did so at their own
risk”.
Zelenskiy made his comments following talks with Czech
Prime Minister Petr Fiala. “On our side, we are continuing with the grain
initiative because we understand what we offer the world. We offer stability on
the food production market,” Zelenskiy told a joint news conference alongside
Fiala.
Zelenskiy said he believed that Russia had left the
agreement, notwithstanding Russian President Putin’s claim that it had only
“suspended” its participation.
Russia said on Monday October 31st that it was
“unacceptable” for shipping to pass through a Black Sea security corridor as
Ukraine was using it to “conduct military operations against the Russian
Federation”. The comments related to Russia’s assertion that Ukraine had undertaken
drone attacks in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014 but still claimed as
Ukrainian territory by Ukraine.
“The movement of ships along the security corridor
is unacceptable since the Ukrainian leadership and the command of the Armed
Forces of Ukraine use it to conduct military operations against the Russian
Federation,” the Russian defence ministry said in a statement, adding that
“under the current conditions, there can be no question of guaranteeing
the security of any object in the indicated direction until the Ukrainian side
accepts additional obligations not to use this route for military
purposes.”
Russia has accused Ukraine of using protected grain ships
to launch the attack. On Monday UN aid director Martin Griffiths said that this
could not have been the case since
“none were in the corridor on the night of the 29th of October when
the reported attacks took place, and no vessel reported an incident over the
weekend.”
Meanwhile, two civilian Ukraine tugboats were hit by
Russian fire at the port of Ochakiv, Ukraine on Monday, according to Ukrainian
Operational Command South. The Russian strikes were the first hits on civilian
vessels reported since the signing of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Two were
reported dead as a result of the strikes.
A spokesman for Ukraine’s Operational Command South said
on Monday that “as a result of an attack on two port civilian tugboats
that were involved in the transportation of grain barges, a fire broke out,
[and]
control over the vessels was lost. Two crew members were killed, one more
was rescued with injuries, the fate of another is unknown.” It was not
immediately clear whether the strikes on the tugboats were intentional or
merely the result of indiscriminate artillery fire. Ochakiv is not covered by the
terms of the Grain Initiative and it ha been attacked repeatedly since the
invasion commenced in February. Though Russia is in possession of limited
numbers of guided missiles and attack drones, it relies on imprecise artillery
bombardment for most strikes along the front line, including past attacks on
Ochakiv’s grain elevator and port area.
During the early months of the invasion Russian forces
repeatedly struck merchant ships, while Russia’s naval forces enforced a
months-long blockade on civilian shipping to and from Ukrainian ports.
Russia has effectively stated that it would not be
reinstating such a blockade, although one reason for this could well be that
Russia no longer has the military capability so to do.
Thirteen ships were reported to have transited the
corridor in Black sea as of near midnight local time October 31st.
