Ukraine updates: Russia threatens Black Sea grain transport

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Putin says return to grain deal only under Moscow's conditions

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow would "consider" returning to the Ukraine grain deal if its demands were "fully" met, saying the agreement had "lost all meaning."

It was the first time the Russian leader commented since Moscow this week exited the landmark deal, which allowed the safe passage of cargo ships from Black Sea ports.

"The continuation of the grain deal in its current form has lost all meaning," Putin said at a government meeting.

"Of course we will consider the possibility of returning to it — but only under one condition: if all principles under which Russia agreed to participate in the deal are fully taken into account and fulfilled," he added.

The Russia president named the "withdrawal of sanctions on supplies of Russian grain and fertilizers to world markets" as one of the main conditions.

The grain deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey, had enabled the export of more than 32 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain over the last year.

The United States announced a new $1.3 billion (€1.16 billion) military aid package for Ukraine featuring air defense systems, anti-tank missiles, drones and other equipment.

The package is part of US efforts to meet "Ukraine's pressing requirements by committing critical near-term capabilities while also building the enduring capacity of Ukraine's armed forces," the Defense Department said in a statement.

The assistance will not immediately arrive on the battlefield, as it falls under the Ukraine Security Assistance initiative, under which Washington procures equipment from the defense industry or partners, rather than drawing it from US stocks.

The package includes four National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and munitions,152 millimeter artillery rounds, mine clearing equipment and drones, according to the Pentagon.

The US Department of Defense announced the aid a day after a virtual meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, allies assisting Ukraine as its forces press a counteroffensive against Russian troops occupying Ukrainian territory.

Overall, the US has sent over $40 billion in the form of security and military assistance to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Russia's Defense Ministry said it would consider all ships traveling to Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea as potential carriers of military cargo from midnight on Thursday morning Moscow time (2100 GMT on Wednesday), following the end of the Black Sea grain deal.

In a statement posted on the Telegram messenger app, the ministry said that it was declaring southeastern and northwestern parts of the Black Sea's international waters as unsafe for navigation, and that the flag states of ships travelling to Ukrainian ports would be considered parties to the conflict on the Ukrainian side.

Moscow's statement comes as Kyiv has urged other countries in the Black Sea region to intervene and assure the safe passage of cargo ships.

The Turkey-UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal, which was intended to facilitate Russian and Ukrainian agricultural exports, expired on July 17, after Russia declined to renew its participation.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was brokered in a bid to end a global food crisis caused by Russia's war in Ukraine, has allowed 32.9 million metric tons to get to the world, according to the UN. Russia pulled out of a deal.

Ukraine's military needs an additional 300 armored vehicles and dozens of F-16 fighter jets to accelerate its efforts to wrest Russian forces from entrenched positions in the south and east of the country, a senior aide to Ukraine's president, Mykhailo Podolyak, told AFP news agency.

He said that Ukrainian offensive was difficult because of heavily mined territory as well as logistical problems, including in arms deliveries.

"Of course, we need additional armored vehicles — two to three hundred tanks first of all," Podolyak said. "We need 60 to 80 F-16 planes in order to close the skies well, especially in the area near the front," he added. 

However, he claimed that the number of "offensive operations" led by the Ukrainian army was "progressively rising" and said that not all brigades readied for the counteroffensive have been sent to the front.

Wagner mercenary group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was apparently seen in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now and ordering them to gather their strength for "Africa."

The footage, posted by his press service on Telegram, was taken in twilight, and showed the shadow of man whose voice sounded like Prigozhin's.

"Welcome lads... Welcome to Belarusian soil," Prigozhin said. "You have done a great deal for Russia. What is going on at the front is a disgrace that we do not need to get involved in."

The video, which has yet to be independently verified, would be the first evidence of Prigozhin's whereabouts since the night of the mutiny. 

Wagner's failed June 23-24 mutiny has been interpreted by the West as a challenge to President Vladimir Putin's rule that illustrates the weakness of the 70-year-old Kremlin chief and the strain of the Ukraine war on the Russian state.

Putin initially said he would crush the mutiny, comparing it to the wartime turmoil that ushered in the revolutions of 1917, but hours later a deal was clinched to allow Prigozhin and some of his fighters to go to Belarus.

Russian lawmakers passed a bill that would allow the National Guard to deploy heavy weapons, including tanks, in the wake of a short-lived insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group.The bill still has to be approved by the upper chamber and approved by Putin, steps that are considered a formality.

The National Guard was created by Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2016 with the aim of warding off unrest and breaking up protests. The force has since taken on a broader role, joining Moscow's offensive on Ukraine launched in February last year.

According to the legislation passed by parliament's lower house, the force, which answers directly to Putin, will be able to possess military-grade weapons, including heavy weapons. 

The legislation comes as the Kremlin seeks to bolster its security apparatus after Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin staged the mutiny with a vow to topple the country's top military brass.

After Prigozhin called off his mercenaries, the head of the National Guard, Viktor Zolotov, who previously led Putin's own security detachment, said his force could receive heavy weapons, such as tanks.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg next month, South Africa said on Wednesday.

Instead, Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

"By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Mr. Lavrov," said Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa.

The decision follows "a number of consultations" held by Ramaphosa in recent months, the most recent of which took place "last night," Magwenya said. 

However, hours after the announcement was made, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin would join the summit by video link. 

Putin's attendance had been the subject of global speculation after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for him in March on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in deporting Ukrainian children.

As a member of the court, South Africa would have been obliged to arrest Putin. Russia is not a party to the ICC and rejects the charges.

The leaders of the other BRICS member countries — Brazil, India, China and South Africa — will attend the summit from August 22 to 24.

Finland will cancel the operation permit of the Russian consulate in Turku, a city on the Finnish southwest coast, the country's government said in a statement.

The Finnish government also said it will look into the status of the Russian consulate on the Finnish island of Aland.

Earlier in July, Russia's Foreign Ministry announced the expelling of nine Finnish diplomats and the shutdown of Finland's consulate in St. Petersburg, the country's second-largest city.

Finland, which shares a long border with Russia, joined NATO in April as the military alliance's 31st member. Interaction between Helsinki and Moscow has become restrained in recent months. 

Ukrainian officials said Russia destroyed 60,000 tons of grain meant for export in overnight strikes around the port of Odesa, and accused Moscow of purposefully targeting grain terminals.

Russia has fired missiles at Ukraine's southern Odesa region for two nights in a row, hitting ports on the Black Sea, days after it exited  the grain deal that allowed the safe passage of cargo ships.

Ukraine's agriculture ministry said the 60,000 tons of grain were destroyed in the port of Chornomorsk, outside Odesa. It added the grain was meant to be "sent through the grain corridor 60 days ago."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said earlier that Russia is "deliberately targeting the grain deal infrastructure."

On Monday, Russia refused to extend the UN-brokered grain deal that allowed for critical grain shipments.  Since exiting the deal, Moscow has warned of "risks" over the future of grain exports via the Black Sea.

Central European EU members want a ban on Ukrainian grain imports to be extended at least until the end of the year, Polish Agriculture Minister Robert Telus said Wednesday. 

"We signed a joint statement of five countries — Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania — on the extension of the ban on imports... of grain from Ukraine to our countries until the end of the year," Telus said following a meeting with his counterparts in Warsaw, calling on the EU to approve the extension.

"But also in the agreement is our joint declaration that we are very open to transit," he added.

Agriculture ministers met in Warsaw to discuss the grain market situation following the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal.

The European Union in May allowed Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while allowing transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere. That ban is set to end on September 15.

Solidarity with Ukraine is important, but national grain markets must be protected, Slovakia's Agriculture Minister Jozef Bires said as he supported a regional call for the extension of a ban on grain imports from Ukraine.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for a large fire at a Russian military base in Crimea, but such a strike would be consistent with Kyiv's military aims, DW correspondent Mathias Bölinger said on Wednesday.

"Ukraine has not acknowledged its participation or its responsibility for the strike, although it's of course highly probable that it was Ukraine," he said.

"Earlier news that the head of military intelligence had taken responsibility for this strike has not been confirmed. It was based on posting on a fake account under his name."

DW was among the media organizations that initially published incorrect information based on news agency reports that the head of Ukrainian military intelligence referred to the incident a "successful" attack. 

Bölinger noted that Ukraine in the past has not claimed responsibility for attacks on Russian military installations.

"So Ukraine does not officially acknowledge this but of course, that's something that we've seen before. Whenever Ukraine strikes deep behind the front line, usually we will not get any official confirmation on that," he said.

"However, it's of course, fully in line with Ukraine with what Ukraine is trying to do there, and that is to disrupt the supply lines."

Germany would support Ukraine in finding alternative paths to export its grain, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday.

As an alternative to sending grain to markets via the Black Sea, Baerbock suggested the European Union create solidarity lanes "by barge, rail or road."

Baerbock in her tweet, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of robbing the world of any hope for Ukrainian grain, saying each of his bombs also hit the poorest in the world. 

Ukrainian grain feeds 400 million people worldwide, according to World Food Program figures. Russia on Monday rejected an extension of the grain deal, allowing Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea.

Russia said on Wednesday that it would not restart talks about the grain deal unless the United Nations implements the terms of a memorandum about Moscow's agricultural exports within three months. 

It is up to the UN to implement the Russian deal if it wants Moscow to engage in talks that could revive the Ukrainian grain export agreement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. 

"The Russia-United Nations Memorandum itself states, and I'll quote...that the agreement will be in force for three years, and in case one of the parties intends to terminate it (either Russia or the UN), it must give three months' notice. We have given notice," Zakharova told Radio Sputnik.

Russia unilaterally quit the grain deal on Monday, complaining that promises to facilitate its own shipments of food and fertilizers had not been kept. Zakharova did not address why Russia would not promise to contribute to the safety of Ukrainian grain shipments during the next three months. 

"Accordingly, the UN still has three months to achieve concrete results. [The UN] should use these three months to achieve concrete results. If there are concrete results, we will return to the discussion of this (wider) issue," Zakharova said. 

Russia deliberately struck grain terminals and port infrastructure in Odesa in its latest airstrikes, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and a political adviser said.

"Russian terrorists deliberately targeted the grain deal infrastructure, and every Russian missile is a blow not only to Ukraine, but to everyone in the world who wants a normal and safe life," Zelenskyy said on social media.

Earlier, Mykhailo Podolyak said on Twitter that the attacks on Ukraine's main Black Sea port reflected Russia's attitude towards food security.

"The main objective is to destroy the possibility of shipping Ukrainian grain," he said after Russia attacked Odesa port for the second straight night.

Russia quit a deal allowing the safe passage of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea on Monday, a move that raised concerns in Africa and Asia about rising food prices and hunger.

Several politicians, including German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, have denounced Russia for using hunger as a weapon in its war against Ukraine.

The head of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency, Richard Moore, called on discontented Russians to join and provide information to Britain's foreign intelligence agency "as others have done in the last 18 months."

"Our door is always open. We will handle their offers of help with the discretion and professionalism for which my service is famed. Their secrets will always be safe with us," he said during a speech Wednesday at the British Embassy in Prague.

The spy chief rarely makes public appearances and the government refused even to confirm the existence of MI6 until 1992. Wednesday's speech is his second since becoming head of the Secret Intelligence Service in 2020.