Russia blames Ukraine for blowing up a major ammonia pipeline

Moscow said on Wednesday that a Ukrainian “sabotage” group had blown up the Tolyatti-Odessa pipeline that Russia uses to export ammonia before launching its 15-month offensive.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that “a Ukrainian reconnaissance group blew up the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyotovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening. He saidHe added that civilians were injured.

Screenshots posted on social media show up White smoke billows from the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline, which is The longest in the world The ammonia pipeline extends nearly 2,500 km.

The ministry said that some civilians were injured, adding that they “received the necessary medical care.”

Meanwhile, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region said on Tuesday Accused Russian forces bombed the pipeline.

Oleh Sinhopov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, said in a post on Telegram that emergency services were “deployed” to the site.

The pipeline accident comes less than 48 hours after the Kakhovka Dam, an important dam on the Dnipro River, was destroyed, flooding nearby areas, and threatening the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of breaching the dam.

The pipeline stopped working after Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

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

Russia also accused the West of preventing its exports of fertilizers, of which ammonia is a derivative The basic component.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Kiev was “the only country that has absolutely no interest in reviving the pipeline”.

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

AFP contributed to the report.