ESCALATION IN THE BLACK SEA RUINS HOPE OF GRAIN DEAL

Since the grain deal was suspended by Moscow, Zelensky tried his best to assure his partners that Ukraine secured another temporary corridor for navigation in to the Black Sea. It lays along Bulgaria’s coast line towards the Bosporus. The first cargo ship left the port of Odessa in mid-August under the request of the Hong Kong authorities. On September 1, Ukrainian authorities declared that two more ships left the Yuzhni port in the Odessa region which they could not leave since 2022. Zelensky declared another great victory over Russia. However, they were carrying cast iron and iron-ore concentrate but no grain. They were leaving Ukraine, thus, they could not be used for transfer of weapons to the Ukrainian military. One of the reasons why Moscow suspended the grain deal was its use by Kiev in military operations. What a coincidence, on the night of September 2, three Ukrainian unmanned boats were destroyed to the south of the Kerch Strait. Two of them targeted the Crimean Bridge. Another drone reportedly turned towards the port in the Krasnodar Kray. Hiding among the vessels, it attempted to attack the patrol boat Pytlivy but was destroyed by the crew in a timely fashion. The drones were sent to the shores of Crimea from the Odessa region under the cover of the exit of civilian ships from the port of Yuzhny. At the same time, numerous NATO spy aircraft were coordinating the operation over the Black Sea. In an attempt to launch another terrorist attack on the bridge used by civilians, Kiev undermined its credibility again. No companies will likely dare to secure the navigation of ships in Ukraine which is necessary to resume the export of grain. Another failed terrorist attack costed Kiev and its European patrons, who were the main beneficiaries of the grain deal, the creation of the alternative route. Kiev’s attacks were not left unanswered. On September 3, Russian Geranium UAVs struck the Ukrainian port of Reni located on the banks of the Danube River. A fuel storage facility was hit in Reni, where oil loading equipment was damaged. The Russian military confirmed that the targets of the strikes were destroyed. On the next day, the UAV strikes continued in the Odessa region. Last night, several warehouses and production facilities were destroyed in the ports of Ismail and Reni. In their turn, Ukrainian forces attempted another operation on the western coast of Crimea but it failed. The Russian military reported that at night four US-made high-speed military Willard Sea Force boats with Ukrainian amphibious groups on board were destroyed by Russian aircraft on their way towards Cape Tarkhankut in Crimea.