Latest developments
- Ukraine’s military said it recaptured 16 square kilometers (10 square miles) of territory from Russian forces during the past week.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country is capable of replacing Ukrainian grain exports to Africa after Russia left a deal allowing for safe shipments from Ukraine through the Black Sea amid Russia’s invasion.
- The Russian defense industry says it is now producing more munitions per month than it did in the whole of 2022, the RIA news agency reported.
- Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev alleged Monday that the U.S. is planning cyberattacks against Russia's "critical information infrastructure," according to state media reports. Reuters could not verify the claims.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to Russia to revive the U.N. brokered Black Sea grain deal to allow the flow of grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
During his speech at the opening of a three-day food summit in Rome, Guterres lamented that the world's hungry will be the most adversely affected if the deal is not renewed. "The most vulnerable will pay the highest price,” he said.
The grain deal had been keeping grain exports flowing to developing countries, especially in Africa and the Middle East since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Wheat prices have risen more than 14% since Monday, when Russia pulled out of the grain deal, and corn prices are up more than 10%.
Russia refuses to renew the accord until sanctions on Russian exports of food and fertilizer are raised.
Earlier Monday, Russian airstrikes hit Ukrainian grain warehouses on the Danube River impairing the alternative shipping route of Ukrainian grain there and wounding seven people. Almost 30 ships are stranded near Ukraine’s crucial Izmail port terminal.
"Russia is trying to fully block the export of our grain and make the world starve," Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said on Ukrainian television.
A French trader called it a "major development and a major blow" to Ukrainian exports, adding: "Without the Black Sea corridor and now with attacks on alternative routes, it will be hard to take Ukrainian grains out of the country." Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba accused Russia of trying to extract concessions "by holding 400 million people hostage" and called for "a united global response to food terrorism."
The Danube has been a key alternative export route for Kyiv since Russia pulled out of a deal allowing Ukraine to ship wheat, corn and other products via the Black Sea.
On Monday, the Ukrainian grain traders’ union, known as UGA, urged the European Union to increase the capacity of so-called solidarity lanes to allow the flow of Ukraine grain exports and other agricultural products by providing alternative transit routes via rail, road and inland waterways after the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal.
“This will lead to a significant reduction in the cost of grain transportation and will enable Ukrainian farmers to export surplus grain without losses to countries that need Ukrainian grain and stabilize global food security," the UGA said.
Five central European countries want the EU to extend the ban of Ukraine imports after its expiration on September 15 claiming that such imports are hurting their local farmers. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called such a request "unacceptable."
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal last week urged Kyiv’s partners and the executive European Commission to ensure the unimpeded export of all Ukrainian agricultural products to the EU.
Aerial attacks
Russia reported Ukrainian drone attacks Monday targeting Moscow and Russia-occupied Crimea, while Ukraine said Russia carried out its latest aerial attack on the Odesa region.
Russia’s military said it downed the two drones that attacked Moscow. The city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said two nonresidential buildings were damaged, but that there were no reports of casualties.
Russian news agencies said fragments from a drone were found in the Komsomolsky area, near Russia’s defense ministry.
In Crimea, the Russia-installed governor said a Ukrainian drone strike hit an ammunition depot, while air defenses downed 11 drones.
Russia on Monday denied targeting civilian infrastructure, including churches. The denial from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov followed a Russian attack Sunday on the city of Odesa’s historic center, a UNESCO world heritage site, which damaged the historic Transfiguration Cathedral.
Zelenskyy used part of his nightly address Sunday to decry the attacks. He vowed to retaliate, saying, “They [Russia] will definitely feel this.”
“The target of all these missiles is not just cities, villages or people. Their target is humanity and the foundations of our entire European culture,” Zelenskyy said.
Members of the clergy pulled icons from the rubble inside the cathedral. Mosaics were smashed. A security guard and clergymen were inside when the strike hit, but they survived.
Destruction of the historic monument has caused outrage and Zelenskyy pledged to restore the historic church.
UNESCO issued a statement “strongly” condemning the attack. European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell condemned the strike as a “new war crime.”
The first and foremost church in the city of Odesa was founded in 1794 during the Russian empire. It was demolished under Stalin in 1936. Its rebuilding commenced in 1999 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and it was consecrated in 2003.
The airstrikes killed two people and wounded at least 19 others, including children.
Residents said the missiles hit only residential areas and small businesses.
Some information was provided by The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.