Turkey today proposed to Russia and Ukraine to expand the Ukrainian grain export corridor through the Black Sea to other food products and raw materials , coinciding with the difficulties suffered by the port region of Odessa after the attacks Russians against their infrastructure.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan , made this proposal in separate telephone conversations with his Russian counterparts, Vladimir Putin , and Ukraine, Volod�mir Zelenski, who confirmed in a tweet that he addressed the ” possible expansion of the grain corridor”.
Ankara’s idea is to start working with Moscow on the export of different food products and gradually add other raw materials through the corridor.
Neither Putin nor Zelensky revealed their position on Erdogan’s proposal, but the Kremlin suggested that the Istanbul agreement of July 22 must first be fulfilled in its entirety. The agreement, which to date has allowed 13.7 million tons of grain and other food to be exported from three Ukrainian ports -Odessa, Yuzhnyi and Chornomorsk- was extended for another 120 days on November 19 under the condition that all sanctions hindering the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers be lifted .
“This agreement is complex in nature and requires the removal of barriers to relevant supplies from Russia to meet the needs of countries most in need,” the Kremlin stressed.
According to the UN, which measured this agreement together with Turkey, almost half of what is exported through Ukrainian ports is corn and 22% mainly rapeseed, sunflower oil and soybeans.
The three ports included in the agreement are located in the Odesa region, which on Saturday suffered a Russian bombardment against its energy infrastructure and on whose coast the Naval Forces also had to deactivate another anti-ship mine. the drift. The port of Odessa did not show any ship departure activity this Sunday, according to the MarineTraffic page.
A Russian attack with Iranian kamikaze drones left 1.5 million subscribers without power in the southern province on Saturday. The head of the regional military administration, Maksym Marchenko, assured today that electricity has been restored to most consumers, except for 300,000 customers.
In addition, as a result of the emergency power cuts there were interruptions in the water supply , according to the utility company Infoksvodokanal. Odessa Mayor Gennadiy Trukhanov claimed on Telegram that pumping and boiler stations in the city are being restarted, but stressed that it takes time to restore everything. According to the energy company DTEK, “it will take much longer to restore power facilities in the Odesa region than in previous times after enemy bombardment.”
The Ukrainian authorities have spoken of between two and three months until the high voltage networks are fully restored and the corresponding technical equipment restored.
The Russian bombardment also affected the Kherson region, also in the south, where today “almost 90% of the city and nearby towns have been restored,” the chief said today. of the regional military administration, Yaroslav Yanushevych.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal stated that after eight Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, all thermal and hydroelectric power plants were damaged and 40% of high-voltage network facilities He also suffered damage . The state company Ukrenergo said on Saturday that it will spend more than 400 million euros in the acquisition of the necessary equipment to restore the electrical network, 300 million of which come from the European Bank for Reconstruction. and Development (EBRD).
The secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Oleksiy Danilov, declared on Saturday that Ukraine is capable of anything to defend itself against Russian bombing. “We will not ask anyone where and when to hit the enemy. The enemy is with us, starting from the borders in our territory up to Vladivostok,” he said.
The vice president of the Russian Security Council, Dmitri Medvidev, responded today that Russia “is increasing the production of the most powerful weapons of destruction” to counter the alleged threat from the West and Kiev. .
The statements by the former Russian president come after Putin said on Friday that Russia could consider adopting the theory of “preemptive strike” in its nuclear doctrine, which currently does not exist in the Kremlin’s plans.
