First grain shipment leaves Odesa since blockade

The shipment was the day after one of Ukraine’s agriculture tycoon was killed with his wife in Russian strikes.

Oleksiy Vadatursky was worth $US450m according to a 2020 estimate by Forbes.

The first shipment of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa on Monday, Turkey announced, as Kyiv said the “brutal” shelling by Moscow of the southern city of Mykolaiv had killed an agriculture tycoon.

The blockage of deliveries from warring Russia and Ukraine – two of the world’s biggest grain exporters – has contributed to soaring food prices, hitting the world’s poorest nations especially hard. Last month both sides signed a landmark deal with Turkey and the UN aimed at relieving the global food crisis.

“The ship Razoni has left the port of Odesa bound for Tripoli in Lebanon,” the Turkish defence ministry said. “It is expected in Istanbul on August 2. It will then continue its journey after it has been inspected in Istanbul.”

Other convoys would follow, respecting the maritime corridor and the agreed formalities, it said.

The Joint Co-ordination Centre, the organisation overseeing the grain exports, said the Razoni was carrying more than 26,000 tonnes of maize.

The deal had been thrown into doubt when two Russian missiles struck the port of Odesa a day after the agreement was signed in Istanbul.

While the much-needed grain exports will be welcomed, the war in Ukraine rages on.

The eastern town of Bakhmut came under intense Russian bombardment after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for civilians to leave the frontline Donetsk region bearing the brunt of the Kremlin’s offensive. Authorities in Mykolaiv said on Sunday that widespread Russian bombardments overnight killed at least two civilians.

“Today, one of the most brutal shellings of Mykolaiv and the ­region over the entire period of the full-scale war took place. Dozens of missiles and rockets,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address. “I want to thank every resident of Mykolaiv for their indomitability.”

Ukrainian agricultural magnate Oleksiy Vadatursky, 74, and his wife Raisa were killed when a missile struck their house. Mr Vadatursky owned grain exporter Nibulon and had been made a Hero of Ukraine. Mr Zelensky paid tribute to Mr Vadatursky, ­estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $US450m.

Mykolaiv – which has been ­attacked frequently – is the closest Ukrainian city to the southern front where Kyiv’s forces are looking to launch a counter-­offensive to recapture territory lost after Russia’s February invasion.

On Sunday, President Vladimir Putin said the Russian navy would soon receive hypersonic missiles that would allow it to strike at enemies with “lighting speed”.

Russian authorities in Crimea – seized by Moscow from Ukraine in 2014 – said a small explosive ­device from a commercial drone, likely launched nearby, hit the navy command in Sevastopol.

The local mayor blamed “Ukrainian nationalists” for the attack that forced the cancellation of festivities marking Russia’s annual holiday celebrating the navy.

But Ukraine’s navy accused Russia of staging the attacks as a pretext to cancel the festivities.  The claim and counterclaim came as the dispute over which side struck a jail holding Ukrainian prisoners of war in Kremlin-controlled Olenivka rumbled on.

Russia’s defence ministry said it had invited the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UN to visit the site “in the interests of an objective investigation”. But the ICRC said on Sunday it had yet to receive approval to enter the site. Russia’s military said 50 Ukrainian servicemen died, including troops who had surrendered after weeks of resisting the bombardment of the Azovstal steelworks in the port city of Mariupol. Ukraine says Russia was behind the attack, with Mr Zelensky accusing Moscow of the “deliberate mass murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war”.

Mr Zelensky warned on the weekend that thousands of people, including children, were still in Donetsk’s battleground areas. He urged people to leave the ­besieged region, echoing calls from the authorities to evacuate. “Leave, we will help,” he said. “At this stage of the war, terror is the main weapon of Russia.”

Official Ukrainian estimates put the number of civilians still living in the unoccupied area of Donetsk at between 200,000 and 220,000. A mandatory evacuation notice posted on Saturday said the coming winter made it a matter of urgency, particularly for the more than 50,000 children.

Kateryna Novakivska, a deputy commander of a Ukrainian unit, said she was fighting so her comrades could be reunited with their families. “The morale of our servicemen is at a high level now, but everyone wants to visit their homes, see their relatives and loved ones,” she said.

AFP