KYIV (Reuters) – Russian shelling destroyed the warehouses of one of Ukraine’s largest agricultural commodities terminals in the Black Sea port of Mykolaiv over the weekend, the head of the region said on Tuesday.
Ukraine, one of the world’s leading grain producers and exporters, operates dozens of export terminals along the Black Sea where cities are regularly shelled by Russia. A Russian blockade is preventing Ukraine from using the sea for exports.
“The day before yesterday, the warehouses of one of the largest terminals in Ukraine were destroyed,” Vitaliy Kim, the governor of the Mykolaiv region, told Ukrainian television.
Kim did not name the terminal, but local media reported a fire after a shell hit Nika-Tera, a port facility in Mykolaiv.
Local emergency services said they had been battling to put out a fire at warehouses on Aivazovsky Street, where Nika-Tera is located. They published a photo of a burned-out building.
Nika-Tera, part of Ukrainian conglomerate Group DF, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reuters could not immediately establish what was stored at the terminal. The government called it a grain terminal. Local media said the shelling hit a warehouse where sunflower meal was stored.
“Russia destroyed the second biggest grain terminal in Ukraine,” Oleg Nikolenko, a foreign ministry spokesman said on social media.
“Millions across the globe will face more food insecurity. Russia’s appetite is growing. Now they want not only to eliminate Ukrainians but to put the world on the verge of famine. Helping Ukraine will help avoid this,” he added.
Since Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the world’s fourth largest grains exporter, Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russia of targeted attacks on infrastructure and agriculture in an effort to provoke a global food crisis and pressure the West.
Moscow, which calls the war a special military operation, blames Western sanctions on Russia and sea mines set by Ukraine for the drop in food exports and rising global prices.
Reports of attacks in Mykolaiv helped drive wheat prices up more than 5% on Monday, and dampened expectations that a diplomatic deal could be reached to resume sea shipments of Ukrainian grain.
Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said this week his country is coordinating closely with Russia and Ukraine to agree a plan that would re-start grain exports from Ukrainian ports even as conflict rages elsewhere in the country.
Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, said on Tuesday that Ukraine would only be able to export a maximum 2 million tonnes of grains a month if Russia refuses to lift its blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports.
Before the war, Ukraine was able to export 6 million tonnes of grains a month. Currently, more than 20 million tonnes of grain are stuck in the country’s silos.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel)
