Report # 109. Kiev violated a deal it has signed in Istanbul a day ago

July 23, 2022

1. Ukraine violates the Istanbul accord on agricultural goods’ deliveries

Sergey Bratchuk, a spokesman for the Odessa Military Administration, said that on July 23 Ukraine launched a cruise missile strike on the port of Odessa, a major trade hub in the country's southwest that was mentioned in the Istanbul arrangement as a sea port to export Ukrainian grain [see Report # 108 dated July 22]. At least four cruise missiles were used to target the facility, two of the projectiles were intercepted, while the two others hit the port’s infrastructure, Bratchuk clarified.

Such provocative attack came a day after a UN-brokered deal to unblock exports of grain and other agricultural goods from Ukrainian ports was reached [on July 22, 2022].

Under the Russia-UN memorandum, the United Nations undertakes to work toward lifting anti-Russian restrictions hampering exports of agricultural products and fertilizers. Another document envisages a mechanism of exporting grain from Ukraine-controlled Black Sea ports. An agreement between Russia, Turkey and the United Nations provides for the establishment of a quadrilateral Coordination Center to inspect ships sailing from Ukraine carrying grain to other countries, and to Ukraine to prevent weapons smuggling and rule out provocations. The center began its activity on July 23.

At the same time despite the Istanbul deal that facilitated to unhindered delivery of Ukrainian grain Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to destroy the grain crops in the fields of Donbass and in other liberated areas in Ukraine. For such purpose AFU use incendiary munitions.

Comment: striking port of Odessa mentioned for grain export a day after the signature of Istanbul agreements and destroying grain crops in the liberated regions in Donbass and other areas is particularly reprehensible and once again demonstrates Kiev’s total disregard for international law and its commitments, whose representative signed the accord during the presence of the UN Secretary General.

2. Situation in the Black Sea

70 foreign vessels from 16 countries remain blocked in six Ukrainian ports, including Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhniy – all located in the Black Sea. The Kiev authorities continue to avoid engaging with representatives of states and ship-owning companies to resolve the issue of ensuring the safe passage of foreign vessels to the assembly area.

The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have created the necessary conditions for the operation of two maritime ‘blue-navy’ humanitarian corridors that constitute safe lanes for navigation:

1) in the Black Sea (operational from 08:00 AM to 07:00 PM every day) to leave Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Ochakov, Odessa and Yuzhniy sea ports towards south-west from Ukraine's territorial sea, 139 miles long and 3 miles wide;

2) in the Sea of Azov (operational 24 hours every day) to leave Mariupol port, 115 miles long and 2 miles wide, towards the Black Sea.

Detailed information on the modus operandi of the maritime humanitarian corridors is broadcast daily every 15 minutes by VHF radio on 14 and 16 international Channels in English and Russian.


Written by Vladimir P. Kozin

 

24.07.2022
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