Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of blowing up ammonia pipeline | War Ukraine and Russia

The Russians have long been dissatisfied with the grain deal and want the ammonia pipeline to reopen in exchange for Ukrainian grain being exported across the Black Sea. That certainly does not seem to be possible for the time being, now that the pipeline in the Kharkiv region has been damaged. According to a Kremlin spokesman, it will take one to three months for the leadership to be restored.

Moscow points to Ukrainian saboteurs as to blame for the attack and says civilians were injured. The Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv says that the Russians had repeatedly fired on the pipeline.

The enemies also accuse each other of blowing up the large dam at Nova Kachovka and previously charged each other with explosions at the Nord Stream pipeline, intended for the export of Russian gas to Europe.

The Togliatti-Odesa line is the longest ammonia pipeline in the world at nearly 2,500 kilometers. Russia is one of the largest exporters of ammonia worldwide, especially to Asia and Africa. Ammonia is an important substance for fertilizer. Russia is therefore also one of the largest producers of fertilizers.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously threatened to pull out of the grain deal (with that deal Russia guarantees safe transport of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, ed.) if the obstacles to the export of Russian food and fertilizer are not addressed. Fertilizer itself is not part of Western sanctions against Russia, but many ports have virtually curbed exports. In addition, many shipping companies have also left the country and many international banks and insurers are also pulling their hands off it.

Moscow also made a concrete threat during the deal to limit the number of ships allowed to travel to Ukraine’s Pivdennyi port (near Odessa) until the ammonia pipeline was restarted. “The ammonia pipeline was one of the cornerstones of the implementation of the agreements made in Istanbul on July 22,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said today, commenting on the incident. “She (the pipeline) was key to global food security.”