Russia has accused the United States of direct involvement in the Ukraine war, while the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to world markets since Moscow’s invasion is due to be inspected in Turkey on Wednesday. The Russian Defense Ministry, led by an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said comments by Vadim Skimytskyi, Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence, to Britain’s Telegraph newspaper showed Washington was involved in the conflict despite claims it was curtailing its role in arms supplies. Skibitsky told the newspaper that there was consultation between US and Ukrainian intelligence officials before the strikes and Washington had an effective veto on the intended targets, but that US officials did not provide direct targeting information. “All this proves beyond doubt that Washington, contrary to the claims of the White House and the Pentagon, is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine,” the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Biden administration is directly responsible for all Kyiv-sanctioned rocket attacks on populated areas and civilian infrastructure in populated areas of the Donbass and elsewhere, which have resulted in mass civilian deaths.” There was no immediate reaction from the White House or the Pentagon to the department’s allegations. The Pentagon, however, denied Moscow’s claims that Russia had destroyed six US-made HIMARS missile systems since the start of the war in Ukraine. Russia regularly claims to have hit HIMARS, but has yet to prove it. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of launching devastating missile attacks on civilian targets on an almost daily basis. Both sides deny that they deliberately targeted civilians.
‘Just Hell’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday that despite arms supplies from the West, his country’s forces have not yet been able to overcome Russian advantages in heavy weapons and manpower. “This is very noticeable in the battle, especially in Donbass. … It’s just hell there. Words cannot describe it.” The Donbass, Ukraine’s traditional industrial heartland in eastern Ukraine, has seen some of the heaviest fighting of the war. Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a “special military operation”. Kyiv and the West have condemned it as an unprovoked war of aggression. At a UN conference on Tuesday, Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s non-proliferation and arms control department, refuted all claims of “unprovoked aggression”. He also added that Moscow is convinced that a nuclear war “should never happen”. Russian diplomat Alexander Trofimov told the United Nations that Moscow would only use nuclear weapons in response to a weapons of mass destruction or conventional attack that threatened the existence of the Russian state. “Neither of these two hypothetical scenarios is relevant to the situation in Ukraine,” said Trofimov, a senior diplomat in the Russian Foreign Ministry’s non-proliferation and arms control division.
Safe passage
Meanwhile, a July 22 UN-brokered deal to unfreeze Ukrainian grain exports had an initial success as the first cargo ship since the Russian invasion docked safely off Turkish shores. The Sierra Leonean-flagged Razoni vessel was at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, which links the Black Sea to global markets, at around 18:00 GMT on Tuesday, some 36 hours after leaving the Ukrainian port of Odessa. A delegation from the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul, where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN staff work, is expected to inspect the ship at 7:00 GMT on Wednesday, Turkey’s defense ministry said. It was loaded with 26,527 tons of corn. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters in New York that about 27 ships in the three Ukrainian ports covered by the export deal were ready to depart. Exports from one of the world’s top grain producers are meant to help ease a global food crisis. Known as the breadbasket of Europe, Ukraine hopes to export 20 million tonnes of grain in silos and 40 million tonnes of the harvest now underway, initially from Odessa and nearby Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk. Russia called Razoni’s departure “very positive” news. It has denied responsibility for the food crisis, saying Western sanctions have slowed its exports.
