Russian strikes continue on Ukraine’s ports after Moscow warns ships

Reuters:

July 20- Russian strikes on Ukrainian port areas continued on Thursday, local authorities said, after Moscow warned that ships heading to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports could be considered military targets.

As concerns grew over Russia pulling out of a deal that has protected global shipments of Ukrainian grain, authorities in the Mykolaiv and Odesa regions reported some 20 people injured in the strikes.

With Russia’s exit from the year-old threatening to worsen global food supplies, Ukraine said on Wednesday it was establishing a temporary shipping route via Romania, a neighbouring Black Sea country.

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“Its goal is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the north-western part of the Black Sea,” Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine’s acting minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in a letter to the U.N.’s International Shipping Organization.

Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s top grain exporters. U.S. wheat futures jumped 8.5% on Wednesday, their biggest daily gain since days after Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022, invasion of its neighbour.

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Russia’s Defence Ministry said flag states of ships travelling to Ukrainian ports would be considered parties to the conflict on Ukraine’s side.