Quick housekeeping note: commenter pieceofpeace thank you for the kind words. You are most welcome.
Last night in comments Torrey asked about Tatarigami’s tweet with the charitable organizations he recommends. I’ll put this after the jump as it is a long tweet.
Apparently Russia targeted a Liberian flagged cargo vessel in the Black Sea. The attack was thwarted by the Ukrainians:
The UK says it has intelligence showing Russia targeted a Liberian-flagged cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles on August 24. The missiles, including 2 Kalibr missiles fired from a Black Sea Fleet missile carrier, were successfully shot down by Ukrainian forces. pic.twitter.com/96gtkskLVX
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 11, 2023
Here are more details from His Majesty’s Government:
- intended target of a Russian missile attack in the Black Sea was a civilian cargo ship
- attacks thwarted by Ukrainian forces who shot down multiple missiles heading towards Odesa port
- since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russian attacks have destroyed enough grain to feed more than one million people for a year
Intelligence shows that the Russian military targeted a cargo ship in the Black Sea with multiple missiles on 24 August.
The missiles, which included 2 Kalibr missiles fired from a Black Sea Fleet missile carrier, were successfully shot down by Ukraine’s forces on 24 August.
Intelligence shows that an intended target was a Liberian-flagged cargo ship berthed in the port.
This attack followed US government warnings that the Russian military may launch attacks against civilian shipping in the Black Sea.
Thanks to Ukraine’s air defence, the attack on the civilian ship failed. Not one of the Kalibr missiles reached its intended target.
Despite its failure, this is a clear demonstration of Russia’s continuing attempts to choke Ukraine’s economy, and President Putin’s disregard for the lives of civilians and the interests of countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:
Putin is trying to win a war he will not win, and these attacks show just how desperate he is.
In targeting cargo ships and Ukrainian infrastructure, Russia is hurting the rest of the world.
This is part of a pattern of Russian aggression in the Black Sea. In July, the Foreign Secretary said the UK believed Russia may target civilian ships in the Black Sea. The US has observed Russia laying more sea mines around Ukrainian ports, and footage showing the detonation of a sea mine in July.
Since July, Russia has systematically targeted Ukrainian port and civilian infrastructure. The attacks have so far destroyed 280,000 tonnes of grain – enough to feed over 1 million people for a year, and more than the total Russia promised to donate to African countries.
Russia has stopped even attempting to justify that these attacks are against legitimate military targets and is cynically targeting civilian infrastructure. President Putin’s intentions are clear for all to see. This is a brutal attempt to choke the Ukrainian economy.
While the UK and our partners continue to do all we can to ensure Ukraine’s exports reach those who need it most, this pattern of deliberately targeted attacks in the Black Sea by Russia demonstrates President Putin’s willingness to weaponise food and innocent trade at the expense of the rest of the world as they block food from reaching world markets.
Since its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Russia has:
- damaged 26 port infrastructure facilities in Odesa, Chornomorsk and Reni
- destroyed 280,000 tonnes of grain – more than the total amount Russia promised to donate to African states, and enough to feed over 1 million people for a year
- because of Russia’s decision to withdraw, up to 24 million tonnes of foodstuffs from Ukraine may now not reach global markets over the coming year
- before Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was feeding 400 million people worldwide and accounted for 8 to 10% of global wheat exports and 10 to 12% of corn and barley exports.
- Ukraine provided over 50% of the wheat for the World Food Programme in 2022 – without the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI) the World Food Programme (WFP) will have to replace this with more expensive or lower quality wheat
This goes directly to way2blue’s question from last night:
I’m missing something. Why does there even need to be a grain agreement with Russia? Aren’t the ships transporting the grain flagged to other (non Ukrainian) countries? So a Russian attack on them would be an attack on, again, a non Ukrainian country. Why can’t these ships be protected (escorted if need be) by western allies?
The grain deal made escorts and protection by western allies unnecessary. With Russia pulling out of the deal, Russia has the upper hand on the Black Sea as they actually have a fleet. Even if it is aging and not particularly well maintained. And the reason that Russia has the upper hand on the Black Sea is that Turkey, pursuant to the Montreux Convention, has sealed the Bosphorus Straits. This means no other navy, including the US’s, can get into the Black Sea. So unless we had a Coast Guard float on the Black Sea working with allies and partners before Turkey sealed the straits, we’ve got no assets on the Black Sea we can use to protect shipping going into and out of Ukraine’s ports. Nor do any of our allies and partners. Turkey could, of course, provide escorts themselves, but so far Erdogan has chosen not to do so.
Here is President Zelenskyy’s address from earlier today. Video below, English transcript after the jump.