This Wednesday in Ukraine, a bridge of strategic importance was partly destroyed by the Ukrainian army in the south of the country, while the Ukrainian ports designated for the export of grain have started to operate again.
Again in application of the agreements signed for four months on July 22 in Istanbul, the Joint Coordination Center (CCC) in charge of controlling the transport via the Black Sea of Ukrainian grain was officially inaugurated the same day in this Turkish metropolis.
Another consequence of the Russian offensive, the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany is now only in service, as planned, at around a fifth of its capacity, reinforcing the risks of shortages this winter. in Europe.
Convoys to transport cereals
“The ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny (Pivdenny, editor’s note) have resumed work,” the Ukrainian navy announced on Wednesday. “The exit and entry of ships to seaports will be done by forming a convoy that will accompany the lead ship,” she continued.
kyiv and Moscow agreed in Istanbul, via mediation by Turkey and under the aegis of the UN, to allow the delivery abroad of some 25 million tonnes of grain stuck in Ukrainian ports.
However, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly said they do not trust Moscow to ensure the security of convoys and recall the Russian missile fire on Saturday at the port of Odessa.
The Kremlin for its part declared that it did not see any obstacles to the resumption of exports, also hampered by the presence of sea mines laid by Ukrainian forces to guard against a Russian amphibious assault. Demining will take place only “in the corridor necessary for exports”, stressed kyiv.
Bridge “very damaged”
Spanning the Dnieper in the suburbs of Kherson, the Antonovski bridge, key for supplies, was partially disabled on Wednesday by a Ukrainian attack.
This work “is very damaged” and “the Russians do not have the specialists and the equipment to repair it in the short term”, commented the deputy head of the regional council, Yuri Sobolevski, affirming that “the bridge cannot be used to cross heavy military equipment”.
“Those who fired on the bridge just made life a little more difficult for the population,” said Kirill Stremoussov, a senior representative of the Russian occupation authorities.
Essential for Ukrainian agriculture, the region is also strategic because it borders the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The key region of Donbass
In eastern Ukraine, the Donbass mining basin was the scene of intense fighting. Two people were killed and five injured in the shelling of a hotel in Bakhmout, the Ukrainian emergency services announced.
AFP journalists present in this city, one of the last in Donbass to remain under Ukrainian control, heard sporadic artillery fire and saw a house hit by a Russian shell. “I was in the barn and was about to go out. I heard a hiss. And I don’t remember anything. It exploded and I was thrown into the barn” by the blast, Roman, 51, told AFP.