More grain ships leave Ukraine as part of deal to aid food crisis

Agricultural cargo Ukrainian war Six more ships said Sunday, analysts said. Russia, which has been allowed to leave the country's Black Sea coast as a Ukrainian counterattack, has warned it is moving troops and equipment in the direction of southern port cities to stave off Ukrainian counterattacks.

Ukraine and Russia have also accused each other of shelling Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

According to the Joint Coordinating Center, which oversees international trade aimed at sourcing about 20 million tonnes of grain from Ukraine to feed millions of starving people in Africa, the The ships were allowed to sail from Chornomorsk and Odesa. Middle East and parts of Asia.

Her Yurri Yalovchuk, a third-generation farmer, told her CBS news that the barley she harvested weighed 1,000 tons and was shipped in the spring. said it should have been. It is not suitable for human consumption and is used as fodder for chickens.  

Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations signed an agreement last month to create a 111 nautical mile seaway that would allow cargo ships to safely sail from ports blocked by Russian forces. Through the waters mined by the Ukrainian army. Implementation of the four-month contract has been progressing slowly since the first vessel was boarded on August 1st.

Her four of the carriers allowed to leave Ukraine on Sunday carried more than 219,000 tons of corn. was The fifth vessel carried her more than 6,600 tons of sunflower oil and the sixth carried her 11,000 tons of soybeans, according to the Joint Coordination Center.

Her three other cargo ships, which departed on Friday, passed inspections and were cleared to transit Turkey's Bosphorus on Sunday en route to their final destination, the center said. rice field.

However, according to Lebanese ministers and the Ukrainian embassy, ​​the vessel, which departed Ukraine last Monday with great fanfare as the first vessel under the grain export deal, was scheduled to arrive in Lebanon on Sunday. was delayed. The cause of the delay was not immediately apparent.

Ukrainian officials were initially skeptical of the grain export deal. This cites allegations that Moscow is seeking to use its shipping activities for a large offshore force and to send long-range missiles from the Black Sea. war.

The agreement requires that ships leave Ukraine under military escort and be inspected to ensure that they carry only grain, fertilizer, or food and no other commodities. Requesting.Incoming cargo ships are checked to ensure they do not carry weapons.

In an analysis over the weekend, the UK Ministry of Defense said the Russian invasion, which began on 24 February, was "entering a new phase", adding that the fighting had stretched some 350 kilometers (217 miles). He said he would move to the front lines. The line runs from near the city of Zaporizhia to Russian-occupied Kherson.

The area includes the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which caught fire late Saturday. Each side condemned the other's attack.

Ukrainian nuclear power plant operator Energoatom said Russian artillery fire had damaged three of his radiation monitors around a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and killed one worker. said he was injured. Russian news outlets, citing control of a separatist-run factory, said the Ukrainian military fired those shells.

Russian forces have occupied the power plant for months. Russian soldiers had taken refuge in bunkers before Saturday's attack, according to Energoatom.

Rafael Grossi, Executive Director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, recently warned that the way power plants are operated and the ongoing fighting around them poses serious threats to health and the environment.

During her last four months of the war, Russia has concentrated on occupying the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine. In the region, a pro-Moscow separatist has ruled some areas as a self-proclaimed republic for his eight years. Russian forces are making gradual advances in the region, launching missile and rocket attacks to curb the movement of Ukrainian fighters elsewhere.

According to the War Research Institute, a Washington think tank, Russia "continues to accumulate a large amount of military equipment" in the Russian-controlled town across the Dnieper from Kherson. A local Ukrainian official, citing a local Ukrainian official, said the preparations appeared to be aimed at securing the logistics route to the city and establishing a defensive position on the left bank of the river.

Kherson fell under Russian control early in the war, and Ukrainian authorities vowed to recapture it. Located just 227 kilometers (141 miles) from Odessa, home to Ukraine's largest port, escalating conflict there could affect the international grain trade.

Even closer to Odessa is the city of Mykolaiv, a shipbuilding center that is bombarded daily by Russian forces. The governor of the Mikolayiv region, Vitaly Kim, said that an industrial facility on the outskirts of the regional capital opened fire early Sunday morning. The shooting killed five civilians. The Donetsk region remains part of Donbass, which is still under Ukrainian control, regional governor Serhiy Haidai reported.

He and Ukrainian government officials have repeatedly urged civilians to evacuate.

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Andrew Wilks contributed reporting from Istanbul.