Damaged ammonia pipeline, Kyiv and Moscow blame each other







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(Reuters) – The Togliatti-Odessa pipeline, which carries ammonia from Russia to Ukraine and could be key to the future of Ukraine’s grain deal, has been damaged, Kyiv and Moscow said on Wednesday , which could complicate discussions around an extension of the agreement.

The Russian Defense Ministry said a “group of Ukrainian saboteurs” blew up part of the pipeline on Monday evening near the village of Masyutivka in Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine, on the line front between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

“As a result of this terrorist act, there were civilian injuries. They were brought the required medical assistance,” the Russian ministry said in a statement.

Oleh Sinehoubov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, gave a different story, saying on Telegram that the Russian military bombed the pipeline.

Reuters was unable to confirm the information provided by Russia and Ukraine.

Resumption of supply via the world’s largest pipeline carrying ammonia could be essential for the renewal of the Black Sea grain agreement.

The UN and Turkey helped set up the Black Sea Grain Initiative, an agreement reached in July 2022 between Moscow and Kyiv, to allow the export of Ukrainian agricultural products and avert a global food crisis as the ukraine is one of the largest grain exporting countries in the world.

Russia has repeatedly threatened not to renew this agreement.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Wednesday that repairing damaged parts of the pipeline could take between one and three months.

The pipeline has been closed since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

(Reuters offices, French version Zhifan Liu)











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