UKRAINE WRAP | Ukraine rapeseed campaign starts slowly as war weighs, Vilmorin says
Image: Press service of the Mykolaiv Regional Prosecutor's Office/Handout via REUTERS
August 1 2022 - 20:30
Ukraine rapeseed campaign starts slowly as war weighs, Vilmorin says
Ukrainian farmers are holding back on orders for rapeseed to sow for next year's harvest as Russia's invasion continues to disrupt agricultural activity, French seed group Vilmorin said on Monday.
Ukraine's president said on Sunday that this year's harvest could be half its usual size, and some farmers and observers fear next year's production could be even more affected as the impact of the war accumulates.
Rapeseed is one of the first major arable crops to be sown in Europe after summer harvesting and demand from Ukrainian growers so far was "relatively sluggish", Vilmorin's Chief Executive Franck Berger said.
"Some farmers are cautious about their capacity to carry out sowing," he said during a presentation of full-year sales.
Most of Vilmorin's sales in Ukraine come from spring-planted maize (corn) and sunflower crops, and it had little visibility over how the farming situation might evolve by then, he added.
For its 2021-2022 financial year that ended on June 30, Vilmorin recorded a 4% fall in combined sales for Ukraine and Russia to 134 million euros ($137.54 million), compared with a 7.5% rise in group annual sales to 1.587 billion euros.
Its sales in Ukraine dropped, marked by reduced planting by farmers and selling of existing stocks of sunflower seed by distributors, Vilmorin said.
In Russia, however, sales increased, partly due to late spring planting by some farmers that allowed Vilmorin to ship seed despite delays linked to the war and related sanctions.
Vilmorin has maintained commercial sales in Russia, citing its role in the global food supply chain, but has suspended a project to develop a local production facility.
-Reuters
August 1 2022 - 17:48
France to donate mobile DNA lab to Ukraine- Macron
President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday France was determined to make sure war crimes by Russian forces in Ukraine do not go unpunished, and will donate a mobile DNA lab to Kyiv authorities.
After a phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Macron also welcomed the departure of the first ship transporting grains from Odesa and said Europe will continue to help facilitating Ukrainian grain exports by sea and land.
-Reuters
August 1 2022 - 16:05
Ukraine gets more US, German rocket launcher systems: minister
Ukraine has received more German and US-made multiple rocket launcher systems, part of a series of deliveries of the high-precision heavy weapons promised by its allies, its defence minister said on Monday.
The government in Kyiv has repeatedly pleaded with the West to send more long-range artillery as it tries to turn the tide on Russia's invasion and attack Russian supply lines and ammo dumps.
Moscow has accused the West of dragging out the conflict by giving Ukraine more arms, and said the supply of longer-range weapons justifies Russia's attempts to expand control over more Ukrainian territory for its own protection.
Ukraine has received four US-made high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), defence minister Oleksii Reznikov said. "I’m grateful to @POTUS and @SecDef Lloyd Austin III and the (US) people for strengthening of #UAarmy," Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
HIMARS have a longer range and are more precise than Ukraine's Soviet-era rocket artillery, allowing Ukrainian forces to hit Russian targets that were previously unreachable. According to estimates by experts, Ukraine already operates up to a dozen HIMARS systems.
The Ukrainian military has also received three MARS II MLRS, the German version of the US-made M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System. The delivery was announced by Christina Lambrecht, the German defence minister on July 26. "The third brother in the Long Hand family - MLRS MARS II from Germany - has arrived in Ukraine," Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
According to specifications by its manufacturer Kraus-Maffei Wegmann, MLRS MARS II can hit targets at a range of up to 70km, depending on the type of ammunition it is using. It is designed to destroy troops and equipment, air defences, command posts and communications and to lay minefields.
Ukraine has so far received German Panzerhaubitze 2000 self-propelled howitzers. Lambrecht on July 26 also announced the delivery of five Gepard anti-aircraft systems. Kyiv has previously said it needs 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks and 1,000 drones among other heavy weapons to repel Russian troops. Other countries that have supplied Ukraine with artillery systems include the US, UK, France, Norway and Poland.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 16:01
Russian lawmakers eye ban on 'unfriendly countries' adopting Russian kids
Russian lawmakers on Monday introduced a bill to the lower house of the country's parliament banning the adoption of Russian children by citizens of "unfriendly countries".
"Sending our children to be raised in 'unfriendly countries' is a blow to the future of the nation," the bill's authors wrote.
Russia's list of unfriendly countries was expanded after many nations imposed sanctions in response to Russia's deployment of troops to Ukraine in February. It currently includes the US, UK, all EU member states, as well as Japan and South Korea.
The bill allows for the adoption bans to be lifted in the future should a given country stop carrying out "unfriendly actions" against Russia.
Russia previously banned adoptions by US citizens under the controversial 2012 Dima Yakovlev law, named for a Russian child who died of neglect shortly after being adopted by an American family.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 15:56
Ukraine requests Lebanese judicial cooperation on grains ship - embassy official
Ukraine on Monday asked for judicial cooperation from Lebanon where a sanctioned Syrian-flagged ship is docked, which it says is loaded with flour and barley taken by Russia from its stores, a Ukrainian embassy official told Reuters. The request is based on evidence put together by a Ukrainian judge and handed to Lebanon's foreign ministry. It follows an order by Lebanon's top prosecutor on Friday to seize the ship pending an investigation into the source of its cargo.
A security source told Reuters that public prosecutor Ghassan Oueidat had asked the intelligence division of Lebanon's internal security forces to carry out an investigation. Foreign minister Abdallah Bou Habib did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Ukrainian embassy said its request contains evidence supporting its accusations about the ship, the Laodicea, and its cargo, both of which were ordered seized by a Ukrainian judge on Friday.
The Russian embassy in Lebanon previously told Reuters it had no information regarding the cargo. Russia has previously denied allegations that it has stolen grain from Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of plundering grain and increasing the threat to global food security.The Ukrainian embassy said they believed the Laodicea, which docked in the port of Tripoli on Wednesday, was carrying 5,000 tonnes of barley and 5,000 tonnes of flour taken from Ukrainian stores.
An official from the Turkey-based company that owns the cargo, Loyal Agro Co LTD, told Reuters last week it was carrying 8,000 tonnes of flour and 1,700 tonnes of barley and denied the cargo was stolen from Ukraine.
Ukrainian authorities say the ship travelled to a port in Russian-occupied Crimea that is closed to international shipping, where it took on the cargo before sailing to Lebanon.
In addition to the criminal probe in Lebanon that has led to the seizure of the ship, the Ukrainian embassy filed a civil case in Tripoli on Friday that led to a 72-hour seizure order on the ship, the judge who issued the order confirmed to Reuters.
That order was extended on Monday for a further 72 hours based on new evidence presented by the Ukrainians, Judge Zeinab Rabab said, adding she had ordered tests to determine how long the cargo could be held before expiring.
Ukraine resumed legal exports of grain to Lebanon in mid-July, the embassy previously said. On Monday, a ship departed Ukraine's port of Odesa with 26,000 tons of corn on board destined for Lebanon marking the first time a ship has left the port since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February.
The embassy said Lebanon would receive preferential treatment due to its official stance against Russia's invasion and that Ukraine would support Lebanon as it faces bread shortages due to a three-year financial crisis.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 12:55
UN secretary-general welcomes departure of first grain ship from Ukraine
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday welcomed the departure of the first ship carrying grain from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Lebanon, saying he hoped many more would follow, his spokesperson said in a statement.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni left for foreign markets under a safe passage agreement, the first departure since the Russian invasion blocked shipping through the Black Sea five months ago.
The sailing was made possible after Turkey and the United Nations brokered a grain and fertiliser export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month.
"The Secretary-General hopes that this will be the first of many commercial ships moving in accordance with the initiative signed, and that this will bring much-needed stability and relief to global food security especially in the most fragile humanitarian contexts," the UN statement said.
The World Food Programme also planned to purchase, load and ship an initial 30,000 metric tonnes of wheat out of Ukraine on a UN-chartered vessel, the statement added.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 12:20
Gazprom did not book additional transit capacity for exports via Ukraine, Slovakia in Q4
Russia's Gazprom did not book additional gas transit capacity via the Sudzha crossing point into Ukraine, or via the Velke Kapusany crossing from Ukraine to Slovakia for the fourth quarter, according to the results of auctions.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 12:05
Russia says it has little ability to help with Nord Stream 1 repair
There is little Russia can do to help with urgent repairs required to malfunctioning Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline equipment, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.
Russia cut gas supplies via Nord Stream 1, its main gas pipeline to Europe, to just 20% of capacity last week, saying that a turbine sent to Canada for maintenance had not yet come back and that other equipment also needed repair.
This signalled a deepening of a row in which Moscow has cited turbine problems as its reason for cutting gas supply via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
"There are malfunctions which require urgent repairs and there are certain artificial difficulties which were caused by sanctions," Peskov said.
"This situation needs a fix and Russia has a little ability to help here," he added.
Germany's Siemens Energy, the manufacturer, has said it had no access to the turbines on site and had not received any damage reports from Gazprom and so had to assume the turbines were operating normally.
In a separate statement on Monday, Russian state gas company Gazprom said that its gas output was down 12% to 262.4 billion cubic metres from January to July, while exports to non-CIS countries fell by 35% from the same period a year ago.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 11:45
Kremlin says it is saddened by reported hospitalisation of ex-special envoy Chubais
The Kremlin said on Monday that it was saddened by the reported hospitalisation of Anatoly Chubais, a former special envoy who quit due to the conflict in Ukraine, and wished him a speedy recovery.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia stands ready to assist the ex-presidential adviser, if he appeals for help.
Chubais, the former privatisation tsar of post-Soviet Russia, is in intensive care in Europe with a rare immune disorder, two sources close to him told Reuters.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 11:27
Vessel carrying Ukrainian corn to pass through Bosphorus on Tuesday
The first ship to depart the port of Odesa under a four-way grain deal will pass through the Bosphorus on Tuesday, carrying Ukrainian corn to Lebanon, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Monday.
He said on television that Ukraine would start consultations to try to open up the port of Mykolaiv if the grain deal holds in full.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 09:02
Britain says Russia has continued to attempt tactical assaults on Bakhmut axis
Britain said on Monday that Russia had continued to attempt tactical assaults on the Bakhmut axis in eastern Ukraine over the last four days, but had only managed to make slow progress.
"As briefed by the Ukrainian authorities last week, Russia is likely reallocating a significant number of its forces from the northern Donbas sector to southern Ukraine," the British Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update.
Britain said that Russia was probably adjusting the operational design of its Donbas offensive and had likely identified its Zaporizhzhia front as a vulnerable area in need of reinforcement.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 08:34
First ship leaving Ukraine has 26,000 tonnes of corn -coordination centre
The first ship to leave Ukraine's Odesa port since Russia's invasion will carry more than 26,000 tonnes of corn and undergo an inspection in Istanbul before continuing to Lebanon's Tripoli, a U.N.-led monitoring centre said on Monday.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni is expected to arrive at the inspection in Turkish waters on Aug. 2, the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) said, adding it had requested all parties to inform militaries to ensure its safe passage.
The JCC - including United Nations, Russian, Ukrainian and Turkish officials - had verified the port readiness at Odesa, as well as the vehicle's capability to depart ahead of the authorisation, it said.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 07:44
Britain says Russia has continued to attempt tactical assaults on Bakhmut axis
Britain said on Monday that Russia had continued to attempt tactical assaults on the Bakhmut axis in eastern Ukraine over the last four days, but had only managed to make slow progress.
"As briefed by the Ukrainian authorities last week, Russia is likely reallocating a significant number of its forces from the northern Donbas sector to southern Ukraine," the British Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update.
Britain said that Russia was probably adjusting the operational design of its Donbas offensive and had likely identified its Zaporizhzhia front as a vulnerable area in need of reinforcement.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 06:45
Russian strikes kill Ukrainian grain tycoon
Russian missiles pounded the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv early on Sunday, killing the owner of a major grain exporter, while a drone strike on Russia's Black Sea naval base in Sevastopol was launched from within the city in a "terrorist attack," a Russian lawmaker said.
Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of agriculture company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.
Headquartered in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city that borders the mostly Russian-occupied Kherson region, Nibulon specializes in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn, and has its own fleet and shipyard.
Five Russian navy staff members were injured by an explosion after a presumed drone flew into the courtyard of Russia's Black Sea fleet headquarters in Russian-occupied Sevastopol, the Crimean port city's governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev told Russian media.
He blamed the attack on Ukraine, saying it had decided to "spoil Navy Day for us."Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.But Olga Kovitidi, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, told the Russian RIA news agency that the attack was "undoubtedly carried out not from outside, but from the territory of Sevastopol."
"Urgent search operations are being conducted in the city to track down the organisers of this terrorist act. They will be found by the evening," Kovitidi was quoted as saying.
The Sevastopol attack coincided with Russia's Navy Day, which President Vladimir Putin marked by announcing that the navy would receive what he called "formidable" hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles in coming months. The missiles can travel at nine times the speed of sound, outrunning air defenses.
Putin did not mention the conflict in Ukraine during a speech after signing a new naval doctrine which cast the United States as Russia's main rival and set out Russia's global maritime ambitions for crucial areas such as the Arctic and in the Black Sea.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 06:30
Russia pounds Ukrainian port; Putin announces global maritime ambitions
Russian missiles pounded Ukraine's port city Mykolaiv on the Black Sea, as President Vladimir Putin signed a new naval doctrine casting the United States as Russia's main rival and setting global maritime ambitions in the Black Sea and Arctic.
Putin did not mention the conflict in Ukraine during a speech marking Russia's Navy Day on Sunday, but said the navy would receive hypersonic Zircon cruise missiles in coming months.
The missiles can travel at nine times the speed of sound, outrunning air defences.
Navy Day celebrations in the port of Sevastopol were disrupted when five Russian navy staff members were injured by an explosion after a suspected drone flew into the courtyard of Russia's Black Sea fleet, the Crimean port city's governor, Mikhail Razvozhayev, told Russian media.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.Olga Kovitidi, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, told Russia's RIA news agency that the attack was "undoubtedly carried out not from outside, but from the territory of Sevastopol".
"Urgent search operations are being conducted in the city to track down the organisers of this terrorist act," Kovitidi was quoted as saying.
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said more than 12 missile strikes on Sunday, probably the most powerful on the city in five months of war, hit homes and schools, with two people confirmed killed and three wounded. Missile strikes continued into Sunday evening.
Ukrainian grain tycoon Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of agriculture company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy Kim said on Telegram.
Headquartered in Mykolaiv, a strategically important city that borders the mostly Russian-occupied Kherson region, Nibulon specialises in the production and export of wheat, barley and corn, and has its own fleet and shipyard.
Reuters
August 1 2022 - 06:00
Missile strikes destroy Kharkiv printing house
Part of a four-story building with printing facilities collapsed and windows of a nearby high-rise office building were blown out in Kharkiv in missile strikes by Russia, Ukraine said.