Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of blowing up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline
“A Ukrainian sabotage group blew up the approximately 2,400-kilometer Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline connecting a Russian city on the banks of the Volga River with the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi near Odessa on the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement. That blast happened Monday night near Massiutovka, a small village controlled by Russian forces in Kharkiv region (northeast Ukraine), which the same source said had been almost entirely taken over by the Ukrainian army in the fall of 2022.
The Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline is the longest in the world. Russia has denounced an “act of terrorism”. On Wednesday, Russian diplomatic spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Ukraine of “dealing a serious blow to the UN’s efforts to fight hunger.” “The only one who was not interested in resuming work on the ammonia pipeline was the Kiev regime,” Zakharova said. “Several civilians were injured. We brought them all the necessary medical assistance,” reads the press release from the Russian Defense Ministry, which also blamed Ukraine, according to Russian agency Interfax.
The Ukrainian authorities, for their part, blame the Russians for the attack. The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehoubov, described the attack as “terrorist”.
Infrastructure is at the heart of negotiations on extending the agreement on grain exports from Black Sea ports. Russia last month agreed to extend the deal by another two months, but said it will end it if restrictions on its own grain and fertilizer exports are not lifted. The gas pipeline, which is supposed to transport up to 2.5 million tons of ammonia per year from the Russian Volga region to the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi near Odessa on the Black Sea, has been on hold since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022.
A video released by a Russian military blogger and a Ukrainian military journalist shows the location of the blast.