Russian rockets and drones on Wednesday pounded Ukraine port facilities that help feed much of the world as the intensified assault on shipping drove global grain prices higher ahead of peace talks Moscow was not invited to join.
Photos and video from the town of Izmail showed officials in “war crimes prosecutor” garb picking through the rubble of devastated buildings, some with wheat tumbling from gashed walls. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said 40,000 tons of grain bound for multiple African countries, China, and Israel were damaged.
The port on the Danube River has provided alternative shipping points for Ukraine since Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative last month and reinstated its blockade on Odesa ports there. Izmail is about 150 miles southwest of Odesa.
Chicago wheat prices ballooned 4% following Wednesday’s attack amid concern one of the world’s top food exporters could be driven off the market, Reuters reported. Ukraine grain exports in July fell 40% from the previous month.
“Another elevator in the port of Izmail, Odesa region, was damaged by Russians,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry tweeted. “Ukrainian grain has the potential to feed millions of people worldwide. However, Russia chose the path of killing, starvation, and terrorism.”
Attacks on Ukrainian ports are a threat to the world −and the world must come to Ukraine’s aid, Kubrakov said.
“We can defend ourselves, and our air defense forces can use weapons effectively,” he tweeted “We need more of it. Each air defense system saved a life.”
Russia may be considerRussia may consider return to grain deal, US envoy says: Live Ukraine updates
Developing:
∎Ukraine shot down 32 drones overnight, the Ukraine Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
∎The Wagner Group fighters pose no direct threat to NATO, and those contractors who remain in Ukraine have no significant influence on the war, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said. Wagner fighters, who were able to seize some territory for Ukraine on behalf or Russia, last month staged a brief, ill-fated revolt against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
‘The front is a disgrace’:‘The front is a disgrace’: Prigozhin says Wagner troops won’t fight in Ukraine now. Live updates.
Peace summit opens Friday − minus Russia
Russia will be monitoring the Ukrainian peace summit that opens Friday in Saudi Arabian, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday. Russia was not invited to join Ukraine, the U.S., Britain, South Africa, Poland and about two dozen other countries sending representatives to Jeddah to discuss Ukraine’s 10-point peace plan.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan was expected represent the U.S., although the Biden administration has confirmed no details on the summit. Peskov said any efforts to promote a peaceful settlement are “worthy of a positive assessment.”
Ukraine plan’s includes long-term commitments that will ensure Ukraine’s ability to win the war and “deter future Russian aggression.” Ukraine wants the restoration of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, the withdrawal of Russian troops, release of all prisoners and a tribunal established to judge those responsible for the war.
But Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the summit will be useful only if it helps the West understand that Ukraine’s plan is a “dead end.”
Relations fray between Ukraine and key ally Poland
Relations between Ukraine and strong ally Poland are becoming strained, officials acknowledged Wednesday. Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Pavel Yablonsky, speaking Wednesday on radio RMF, said relations “recently have not been the best,” and that “there is no agreement” on many issues.
Polish Ambassador to Ukraine Bartosz Cichocki was summoned Tuesday to the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv because of recent statements by Polish officials, including Polish President Duda Marcin Przydacz. Poland has accepted millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war and provided military and humanitarian aid. But Poland also is one of multiple European countries concerned that Ukraine, struggling to ship its grain to Africa and Asia, is sending grain to European ports. That is a problem for farmers, and Poland has attempted to blocked Ukraine shipments.
Przydach said Ukraine “should start to appreciate the role that Poland has played for Ukraine over the past months and years.”
The Ukrainian foreign ministry said Cichocki was told claims that Ukraine is ungrateful were “untrue and unacceptable.”
