Ukraine blew up key ammonia pipeline, says Russia

Moscow said Wednesday that a Ukrainian “sabotage” group had blown up a section of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia used to export ammonia before the start of the offensive.

The 2,500-kilometre (1,534 mile) pipeline is part of the international talks on allowing grain exports from Ukraine amid the conflict with Russia.

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Ukrainian officials have accused Russian forces of firing at the ammonia pipeline near Masyutivka, as the village is known in Ukrainian.

“A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, Russia’s defense ministry said.

The ministry said that some civilians had been wounded, adding that “they received the necessary medical care.”

The pipeline stopped operating after Moscow sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.

The resumption of Russia’s ammonia exports through the link is one of Moscow’s conditions to continue with the grain export deal, which allows safe passage for Ukrainian grain shipments.

Russia has accused the West of blocking its exports of fertilizer, for which ammonia is a core component.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kyiv was “the only country that has never been interested in resuscitating the pipeline.”

She accused Kyiv of “dealing a blow to UN efforts to combat world hunger,” and said that if crews could access the site, it would take one to three months to repair the damage.

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