There was some rare good news out of Ukraine today when a vessel loaded with 26,000 tons of corn left the port of Odesa — the first legal shipment of grain since Russia’s invasion began in late February.
It’s a small step but potentially significant for some of the world’s poorest countries as they wrestle with soaring food prices caused in part by uncertainty over supplies of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain blocked by Russia’s assault.
Yet the fragility of the July 22 agreement brokered by Turkey and the United Nations for safe shipping corridors from Black Sea ports is all too apparent as the war rages in its sixth month.
Russia shelled Ukraine’s southern city of Mykolaiv again today after a weekend of intense missile strikes that killed a grain-exporting tycoon and his wife in what officials in Kyiv called a targeted attack. A Ukrainian counter-offensive against Russia’s occupation of nearby Kherson is gaining momentum, with fighting reported across the region.
President Vladimir Putin threatened a “lightning” response to what he called any encroachments on Russia’s sovereignty and freedom under a new naval doctrine he signed yesterday.
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