Putin did not mention the conflict in Ukraine during a speech on Russia’s Navy Day on Sunday, but said the navy would receive Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles in the coming months. The missiles can travel at nine times the speed of sound, bypassing anti-aircraft defenses. read more Navy Day celebrations in the port of Sevastopol were interrupted when five Russian navy personnel were injured in an explosion when a suspected drone flew into the yard of the Russian Black Sea fleet, the governor of the Crimean port city, Mikhail Razvozhayev, told Russian media information. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Reuters could not independently verify reports on the battlefield. Olga Kovitidis, a member of the upper house of the Russian parliament, told the Russian news agency RIA that the attack “undoubtedly was not carried out from abroad, but from the territory of Sevastopol.” “Urgent search operations are being conducted in the city to identify the organizers of this terrorist act,” Kovitidis was quoted as saying. Mykolayiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said more than 12 rocket attacks on Sunday, possibly the most powerful in the city in five months of war, hit homes and schools, with two people confirmed killed and three wounded. The shelling continued until Sunday afternoon. Ukrainian grain tycoon Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of agricultural company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram. Based in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city bordering the mainly Russian-held Kherson region, Nibulon specializes in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn and has its own fleet and shipyard.
SHIPMENTS OF GRAIN
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called Vadatursky’s death “a great loss for all of Ukraine.” Zelensky added that the businessman – one of Ukraine’s richest with Forbes estimating his net worth in 2021 at $430 million – was building a modern grain market with a network of transshipment terminals and elevators. “It is these people, these companies, precisely southern Ukraine, that have guaranteed the world’s food security,” Zelensky said in his nightly speech. “It has always been so. And it will be so once more.” Putin invaded Ukraine on February 24, sparking a conflict that has killed thousands, uprooted millions and deeply strained relations between Russia and the West. Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II has also sparked an energy and food crisis that is rocking the global economy. Both Ukraine and Russia are major grain suppliers. Zelensky said Ukraine may harvest only half of its usual amount this year due to disruptions in agriculture. However, an agreement signed under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey on July 22 provides for the safe passage of ships carrying grain from three ports in southern Ukraine. The ship may leave Ukrainian ports on Monday, a spokesman for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said.
EASTERN DANGER
Zelensky said Russia has moved some forces from the eastern Donbas region to the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia. “But that will not help them there. None of the Russian strikes will go unanswered by our military and intelligence officers,” he said. After failing to quickly capture the capital, Kyiv, early in the war, Russia has turned its forces to eastern and southern Ukraine. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and Kyiv says Moscow is seeking to do the same with the Donbass region and link it to Crimea in the south. Russian-backed separatists controlled parts of the region before the invasion. Russia said it had invited UN and Red Cross experts to investigate the deaths of dozens of Ukrainian prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists. Ukraine and Russia traded accusations over a missile strike or explosion early Friday that appeared to kill Ukrainian prisoners of war in the front-line town of Olenivka in eastern Donetsk. The International Committee of the Red Cross condemned the attack and said it had not received permission to visit the site, adding that it was not mandated to investigate publicly alleged war crimes. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Report from Reuters offices. Written by Michael Perry. Edited by Robert Birsel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
