Day 509 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Russia Out of the Grain Deal

Ukraine | July 17, 2023, Monday // 08:57|  views

@novinite.com

Day 509 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

  • A Russian Su-25 crashed in the Sea of Azov. The pilot ejected but died later
  • Russia ends its participation in the grain deal
  • London sanctioned Russians, including a minister, over the deportation of Ukrainian children
  • New attack on the Crimean bridge, explosions at 3 in the morning, traffic is stopped
  • Ukraine: Russia gathers elite troops in Bakhmut and entrenches
  • One dead in missile attack on Kharkiv, fighting in eastern Ukraine intensifies
  • Putin promised to announce the tasks of the "special military operation". But not in front of cameras


A Russian Su-25 crashed in the Sea of Azov. The pilot ejected but died later

A Russian Su-25 fighter-bomber crashed in the Sea of Azov near the town of Yeysk, but the pilot was able to eject, local authorities said on social media, cited by Reuters.

Clips, whose authenticity has not been confirmed, were also released showing a parachute descending over the sea near a beach. The first information indicated that there were no casualties.

Yeysk is located on the other side of the Sea of Azov from the Russian-controlled part of Ukraine's Donetsk region. The place is a resort town.

Representatives of Russia's Krasnodar region reported that the pilot was rescued from the water.

"According to the data of the Unified Duty Dispatch Service in the Yeysk region, around 15:00 p.m., information was received that a Su-25 aircraft crashed near the coast. As a result of the incident, there were no victims and no damage," is said in the message.

According to "Baza", the causes of the plane crash are still unknown, but the pilot has not been contacted and is being resuscitated. He has two broken legs and has swallowed a significant amount of sea water. A little later, "Baza" announced that the medics were unable to fight for the pilot's life and he died. "Mash", on the other hand, explains that he got entangled in the ropes of the parachute and this is the reason why he swallowed water.

According to preliminary data, the cause of the fighter jet's crash was engine failure, reports the press service of the Southern Military District.

Russia ends its participation in the grain deal

Russia has officially notified Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations that it is against extending the Black Sea grain export deal, said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

The agreement, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last July, was intended to ease the global food crisis by allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain blocked by the war in Ukraine.

The Kremlin said there was no connection between last night's attack on the Crimean bridge and Russia's decision to end its participation in the grain deal. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov indicated that President Vladimir Putin's position on the deal was known before the attack.

London sanctioned Russians, including a minister, over the deportation of Ukrainian children

The British government said on Monday it had imposed new sanctions, including against Russian Education Minister Sergey Kravtsov, over what London described as Moscow's forced deportation of Ukrainian children, Reuters reported.

Britain has sanctioned 14 people in response to Russia's "attempts to destroy Ukrainian national identity", 11 of whom it says were involved in the forced relocation of children.

"In his chilling program of forced deportation of children and the hate-filled propaganda spewed by his lackeys, we see Putin's true intent - to wipe Ukraine off the map," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a statement.

"Today's sanctions hold accountable those who support the Putin regime, including those who would like to see Ukraine destroyed, its national identity destroyed and its future obliterated," he added.

Russian Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova was sanctioned for providing support to promote policies and actions that "destabilize Ukraine or threaten territorial integrity", Britain said.

Earlier this month, Russia said it had taken about 700,000 children from conflict zones in Ukraine to Russian territory. Moscow claims that its program to take children from Ukraine to Russian territory is to protect orphans and children left behind in the conflict zone.

But Ukraine says many children have been illegally deported, and the United States says thousands have been forcibly removed from their homes. The Ministry of Integration of the Occupied Territories of Ukraine announced that 19,492 Ukrainian children are currently believed to be illegally deported.

New attack on the Crimean bridge, explosions at 3 in the morning, traffic is stopped

On Monday, explosions rocked the Crimean bridge connecting the occupied Crimea with Russia, Russian and Ukrainian agencies reported simultaneously. According to the Russians, the facility was attacked by unmanned naval vessels, so-called maritime drones. Reuters quoted the head of the occupying Russian authorities, Sergey Aksyonov, as saying that traffic on the bridge had been stopped due to an incident. The governor did not provide further details. Russian President Vladimir Putin was notified of the attack, Aksyonov claims. An emergency meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation is expected.

Both the telegram channels and the officials write about an attack of the VSU on the bridge at 3 a.m. in the morning. The attack was carried out in the area of the 145th support column of the bridge. Two deaths were reported. UNIAN and multiple Telegram channels reported that part of the road bridge had collapsed, while the railway remained unaffected, but train traffic was also suspended for the time being. At the same time, in an official announcement, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation claimed that no supporting columns of the bridge were affected, only the roadway was damaged.

Local telegram channels reported that earlier the attack by the armed forces of Ukraine, launched at the beginning of the fourth night, could be the reason for the state of emergency, as local residents heard the sounds of explosions at that time. Military bloggers report at least two explosions. The pro-Kremlin channel “Русская весна” reported an explosion at 3:00 a.m. and then at 3:20 a.m. According to the military bloggers of the “Two Majors” channel, the preliminary nature of the incident indicates the enemy's use of small unmanned craft loaded with approx. 500 kilograms of explosives to undermine the columns of the Crimean Bridge. This is evidenced by the lack of air defense activity, as well as the nature of the damage.

As a result of the attacks, one section of the bridge has collapsed into the sea, another has sagged, but the columns are intact. The "Two Majors" adds that a US Air Force MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drone flew over the Black Sea during the night.

Kyiv's military intelligence issued a brief comment on Ukrainian public television. "We can only quote the words of the head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense Kiril Budanov that the Crimean bridge is an unnecessary construction there," said the department's spokesman Andrey Yusov.

Russian sources draw attention to a post on the Telegram channel of the commander of the ground forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Sirsky, in which the general says a few hours before the explosion: "Good night, Ukrainians, we are preparing a good night song for the occupiers."

The head of the Public Council in the Odesa regional administration, Sergey Bratchuk, suggests that the explosions on the Crimean bridge may have been the work of the occupiers themselves. "The version that Russian provocation against the background of the continuation of the ‘Grain deal’ is not just not excluded. It is probably one of the main ones," Bratchuk said. Russian propagandists like Vladimir Solovyov and his colleagues are adamant this morning: "End of the grain deal"

The Minister of Resorts of Crimea urged tourists to stay in their hotels because of the emergency situation on the bridge. Authorities are urging drivers to use "other routes" due to the closure of the Crimean Bridge to traffic. A bypass route was organized through the occupied Melitopol and Mariupol, or the new regions, as Moscow calls them. The movement of ferries between the Russian Kuban and the occupied Crimea has also been stopped, said the governor of the Krasnodar region, Fyodor Babenkov.

A coordination headquarters has been opened in the Ministry of Resorts, and the Acting Minister of Industrial Policy of Crimea, Elena Elekchyan, reassures that Crimea is provided with fuel, food and industrial products and "local warehouses have all the necessary stocks"

There was also an explosion on the Crimean bridge on October 8, 2022. Initially, Ukraine did not comment on the attack, but on the occasion of the 500 days of war, when listing the successes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces since the invasion of Russia, Kyiv listed among the successful actions the blowing up of part of the Crimean bridge.

Ukraine: Russia gathers elite troops in Bakhmut and entrenches

Russia is massing elite troops in Bakhmut and entrenching itself in the city, said the spokesman of the Eastern Military Command of Ukraine, Serhiy Cherevaty, reported the Ukrainian agency UNIAN, quoted by BTA.

"In the area of Bakhmut, on the northern and southern flanks, our forces continue to put pressure on the enemy, the initiative lies with our units," Cherevaty said on Ukrainian television.

A unit of the Russian Army Reserve BARS, a Storm-Z unit, units of the Russian Special Forces, as well as the Russian Airborne Forces, are reported to be fighting in Bakhmut. Bakhmut has not only military, but also propaganda significance for Russia, notes UNIAN, quoting Cherevaty's words in this sense.

"In general, the enemy is trying to use all the elements of defense. Russia is massing its best units in Bakhmut, digging in hard and thereby clearly marking its desire to hold the city, as earlier it tried with all its might to take it." , says Cherevaty. "Besides military significance, Bakhmut has no less propaganda significance, as many people and equipment were sacrificed for it. For this reason, if this symbolic city were to be lost quickly, it would be the height of shame for them," explains the Ukrainian military spokesman.

Ukraine said that its troops were advancing in the region of the city of Bakhmut, which Russia said in May had been captured by Russian forces, AFP reported.

"We are gradually making progress in the Bakhmut region," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram. "We are advancing daily on the southern flank in the Bakhmut region. On the northern flank we are trying to hold our positions, the enemy is attacking," Maliar reported. "For two days in a row, the enemy is carrying out active offensive actions in the sector of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv Oblast. We are on the defensive. There are heavy battles and the positions of the sides change dynamically several times a day," Maliar also informed, quoted by the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform.

One dead in missile attack on Kharkiv, fighting in eastern Ukraine intensifies

An employee of an industrial enterprise was killed and three others were injured as a result of a Russian missile attack on Kharkiv, Ukrinform and Reuters reported.

"According to the data of the investigation, on July 16 at around 6:50 p.m., the enemy launched a missile attack on the territory of an industrial enterprise in the Osnovianskyi district of the city of Kharkiv. According to preliminary data, two S-300 missiles were launched from the territory of the Russian Belgorod region. So far, it is known about one person killed and three injured, all of them employees of the industrial enterprise. The data is being verified," the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reported on Telegram.

The investigative team collects physical evidence and documents the aftermath of the attack. Pre-trial proceedings have been launched for violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.

Two explosions were reported in Kharkiv last night. The mayor of the city, Igor Terekhov, announced that seven people were injured and a fire broke out in the Osnovianskyi district as a result of the Russian shelling.

In September, Ukraine regained much of the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, with Russian forces now occupying only a small strip of land there, Reuters recalls.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has "intensified somewhat", with Ukrainian and Russian forces clashing in at least three areas on the eastern front, a senior Ukrainian defense official said yesterday. Separately, the Ukrainian military said it had taken control of part of a southeastern village in Donetsk region, near a group of small settlements that Ukraine retook in June.

"The enemy made an unsuccessful attempt to regain lost positions in the northern part of Staromayorsko," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in a regular update.

It was the first official acknowledgment of progress in the village since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June to retake the occupied territories and take the initiative.

Putin promised to announce the tasks of the "special military operation". But not in front of cameras

Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced that he is ready to reveal the tasks of the "special military operation" in Ukraine. But not in front of cameras.

The head of state assured the journalist of the propaganda media VGTRK, Pavel Zarubin, that the Ukrainian counteroffensive "has not been crowned with success".

However, the leader was clearly caught off guard when asked what the next tasks for the Russian army were then.

"I'll tell you later when the cameras are off," the president promised.

On February 24, 2022, Putin announced that the two conquest goals of the invasion were the "demilitarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine. Subsequently, when it became clear that the entire territory of the country could not be captured, the actions of Russian troops were focused on Eastern Ukraine. Then a new goal was clarified - "to protect Donbas".

From time to time, propagandists close to the Kremlin, such as the leader Vladimir Solovyov and Chechen dictator Ramzan Kadyrov, point to a new mission - the "desatanization" of Ukraine.

But the award goes to the Russian president himself, who on December 22, 2022 announced that Russia started the war... to "end the war".

In the interview with Zarubin, Putin warned that Russia reserves the right to retaliate if Ukraine uses cluster munitions.

"The Russian Federation has enough stocks of various types of cluster ammunition, so far they have not done it, they have not used it, and we have not had such a need, despite the well-known shortage of ammunition in a certain period of time, but we did not. But, of course, if they are used against us, we reserve the right to take mirror action," the president threatened.

In February 2022, the use of cluster munitions was called a crime by then-White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki. In early July, however, Washington announced that it intended to supply Ukraine with the ammunition in question, despite opposition from human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch.

As for Putin's specific statement - there is evidence that both armies used cluster munitions on the front.

Novinite is still the only Bulgarian media that publishes a summary of events and highlights related to the conflict, every single day. Our coverage began on day one - 24.02.2022 and will not stop until the war has concluded. Despite the pressure, our independent media will continue to provide its readers with accurate and up-to-date information. Thank you for your support! #stayinformed

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Tags: Crimea, Russia, Ukraine, Putin

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