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Tag: Ukrainian officials

  • Ship departs Odesa amid fears of Russian strike in Black Sea

    Ship departs Odesa amid fears of Russian strike in Black Sea

    Despite worries that Russia could attack ships in the Black Sea, a commerce ship has departed the Ukrainian port of Odesa.

    Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte has been imprisoned in the harbour.

    After a contract that had permitted it to export grain last month fell through, Kyiv has announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea.

    Moscow, though, has not said whether it will adhere to the corridor.

    The ship sailed away as Kyiv reported that Russian airstrikes had destroyed grain storage facilities in Reni, a Danube River river port located around 260 kilometres (160 miles) south-west of Odesa.

    Photos of the damaged storage facilities and strewn grain and sunflower fields in Reni, near the border of Ukraine with Moldova and Romania, were provided by Ukrainian authorities.

    According to a source in the business, the port’s operations are still ongoing.

    Regarding the most recent incident, Russia made no remarks.

    Last month, Russia backed out of an agreement that ensured shipments across the Black Sea would be transported safely and warned that any ship sailing towards Ukrainian ports may be targeted militarily.

    It fired warning shots at a ship heading near Ukraine earlier this week.

    Since Ukraine is a significant exporter of grains and oilseeds, the blockade has helped to drive up food prices around the world.

    Russian airstrikes on grain storage facilities in Reni, on the Danube River, according to photos published by Ukrainian officials.

    Despite the warnings, Ukraine last week declared a humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea to permit ships to leave its ports, guaranteeing complete openness to show that they were not acting in support of any military objectives.

    Oleksandr Kubrakov, the deputy prime minister, announced on Facebook that “a first vessel used the temporary corridor for merchant ships to/from the ports of Great Odesa.”

    According to Reuters, the Joseph Schulte’s owners, Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement and a Chinese bank, confirmed the ship was headed to Istanbul, Turkey.

    According to Mr. Kubrakov, the corridor was carrying 2,114 containers and more than 30,000 tonnes of cargo, including food, and it will mostly be used to evacuate ships stranded in Black Sea ports since Russia’s full-scale invasion started.

    In the meantime, Russian forces had been routed from Urozhaine, a small hamlet in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

    Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar posted on Telegram, “Urozhaine liberated – our defenders are entrenched at the periphery.”

  • Russian missile attack on Pokrovsk, results in seven fatalities

    Russian missile attack on Pokrovsk, results in seven fatalities

    Officials report that a Russian missile attack on homes in the eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk has resulted in at least seven fatalities.

    As rescuers were looking for victims of the first rocket, two missiles struck the town.

    Police officers and rescuers were among the numerous injured. Over 30 individuals, including two children, were injured.

    Rescue efforts are still going on.

    Pokrovsk is located around 70 kilometres (43 miles) north-west of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk. It had a population of about 60,000 before the war.

    The leader of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Krylenko, said that a member of the emergency services was killed in the second strike and that five people were murdered in the first strike. Additionally, a military employee perished.

    He said, “High-rise buildings, private houses, administrative buildings, catering establishments, [and] a hotel” were among the “destroyed and damaged” structures.

    “Russia is a state that sponsors terrorism. And she ought to pay for her sins!” he continued in a Telegram post.

    Other Ukrainian officials claim that the second missile, which landed 40 minutes after the first, killed and injured rescuers who were looking for survivors in the rubble of what Mr Zelensky called a “ordinary residential building,” killing and injuring them in the process.

    He released a video showing the top floor of a five-story building being destroyed.

    It showed individuals helping one another into ambulances and clearing away debris amidst scenes of general mayhem and uncertainty.

    A local who was hurt in the initial strike, Kateryna, told the news agency Reuters that she was at home when the missile struck.

    “My eyes were filled with flame. I stumbled and hit the ground and floor. Only the shrapnel in my neck is hurting me; otherwise, I’m fine.

    At least two civilians were also killed, according to Andriy Yermak, chief of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, when Russian guided bombs struck “private houses” in the Kharkiv Region on Monday night.

    He said that five persons were hurt in the attacks.

  • Ukraine launches counter-offensive in occupied region – Russia

    Ukraine launches counter-offensive in occupied region – Russia

    Ukraine has requested a period of operational quietness concerning their counter-attack against Russian-enforced land, in an effort to regain control.

    Anticipation has risen around what is supposed to be an attack in the east and south, but president Volodymyr Zelensky finally suggested in an interview released on Saturday that ‘we are ready’ for it.

    As expected, there have been no formal statements, but this morning Russia claimed to have repelled a ‘major offensive’ at five frontline points in the eastern Donetsk region.

    Though it is yet unclear whether this was the beginning of a counter-offensive, the defence ministry spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said his forces had killed 250 Ukrainian soldiers.

    Three infantry fighting vehicles, 16 tanks and 21 armoured combat vehicles were destroyed, the statement said.

    ‘The enemy’s goal was to break through our defences in the most vulnerable, in its opinion, sector of the front,’ said Mr Konashenkov.

    ‘The enemy did not achieve its tasks. It had no success.’

    Ukrainian officials made no comment, and have emphasised the need for secrecy about their military operations.

    It comes as Ukraine’s defence minister posted a tweet on Sunday quoting music band Depeche Mode, specifically their song titled Enjoy the Silence.

    ‘Words are very unnecessary… They can only do harm,’ Oleksii Reznikov tweeted alongside a video referring to the counter-offensive.

    Posted on Official Telegram channels, and on Crimean TV, a voiceover says: ‘Plans love silence. There will be no announcement of the start.’

    Authorities have repeatedly discouraged public speculation, insisting it could help the enemy.

    In recent days, there has also been a crackdown on citizens sharing footage of air defence systems shooting down Russian missiles.

    For months, Ukrainian officials have spoken about plans to reclaim strategically significant territory from Russians.

    The attacks come as people living in Russian villages on the border with Ukraine have started to flee their homes.

    Russia’s western Belgorod region has recently been under attack from a sabotage group made up of pro-Ukraine Russian partisan fighters.

    The Kremlin has appeared to downplay the situation in border regions, despite intense shelling in recent days.

    But the mayor of Belgorod, Valentin Demidov, on Friday told AFP that some 5,000 people who fled border villages have registered with city authorities, with several hundred in temporary housing.