54 minutes ago
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The pipeline runs from Togliatti in Russia to the Ukrainian port of Odessa
Russia blames Ukraine for an explosion at a key ammonia pipeline and says it could have “negative” implications for efforts to renew a landmark grain export deal.
Moscow has blamed Ukrainian “sabotage” groups for the blast that damaged the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline on Monday.
And the Kremlin says it will not renew last year’s grain export deal with Kiev until the pipeline is operational.
But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied the allegations, saying the blast was likely caused by Russian shelling.
Before the war, the 2,500 km (1,530 miles) pipeline running from the Russian city of Togliatti to three Black Sea ports in southern and western Ukraine exported 2.5 million tons of ammonia annually.
But the pipeline’s operations were halted after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
During talks last year to ensure grain exports from Ukraine, Kiev and Moscow reached an agreement to ensure the safe passage of ammonia through the pipeline, a key ingredient in fertilizer production.
The landmark deal between the United Nations and Turkey was originally agreed for 120 days in June 2022 and has since been extended three times. The current agreement expires on July 17.
But speaking to reporters in Moscow, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said the blast could have “only negative implications” for talks on extending the deal.
“You know this issue was an integral part of half of the contract that we were dealing with, so that’s another complication in terms of the contract extension.”
“We don’t know what kind of destruction there is, we don’t know what the Ukrainian side will do next,” Peskov added.
On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said repairing the damage to the pipeline would take between one and three months, but Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said Thursday that Moscow does not have access to the damaged section.
Ukraine has strenuously denied being behind the blast, insisting Moscow carried out the attack.
President Zelenskyy told reporters that the attack took place in a “grey zone” between Ukraine- and Russia-controlled areas, distinguishing between the blast and the blast at the Khakovka dam.
“It’s a story when it comes to the aftermath of the war. Yes, the Russian Federation is to blame, but these are the consequences of the war,” said President Zelenskyy. “But [in Kakhovka]We understand that this is terrorism. They mined it in advance and made it with their own hands.”
“We see that as a completely different category,” he added.
Elsewhere, Russian pro-war advocates have hinted that a long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive has begun in the southern Zaporizhia region.
Andrei Rudenko, a correspondent for Russian state TV Rossiya 24, claimed Ukrainian tanks launched attacks on Russian lines in the area and said Russian forces repelled the attack.
And Vladimir Rogov, the Russian-installed governor of occupied Zaporzhia, told state television that he believed there had been an “attempt at a full-scale offensive for three or even four days” in the region.
But Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security Council, denied reports about the new offensive, saying that if Kiev actually launches an offensive, “everyone will know about it.”
Senior US officials have previously told the BBC’s US affiliate, CBS News, that it was correct to say that the counter-offensive in Ukraine was in the initial stages, but that the main attack had not yet begun.