LIVETEXT War in Ukraine, day 160 | Zelenski claims that “it is too early” to enjoy the resumption of grain exports through Odesa

The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, announced on Telegram on Tuesday that three people were killed and three others were wounded as a result of Russian shelling in the last 24 hours.

“Russia is killing civilians! On August 1, the Russians killed 3 civilians in the Donetsk region: two in Mariintka and one in Bakhmut. Three other people were injured,” Pavlo Kirilenko said.

According to the Ukrainian official, since the beginning of the invasion on February 24, the Russians have killed at least 671 civilians in the Donetsk region and at least 1,738 people have been injured.

The Department of the Emergency Service of Ukraine in the Dnipropetrovsk region said in a statement on Tuesday that, following the bombings carried out by the Russians in the Krivorizka district, the railway infrastructure was destroyed and the railway traffic was stopped.

“The aggressor fired in Krivorizka district. It targeted the communities of Zelenodol and Khrușiv. The railway infrastructure was destroyed. In Hrușivska commune, a railway track was destroyed by enemy rocket fire. Traffic on it is stopped. Also, the electrical transformer and the electrical network were damaged. There were no casualties,” the statement said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his satisfaction after the first shipment of grain from the port of Odesa since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February, but pointed out that “at the moment, it is too early to draw conclusions and make predictions”, according to CNN.

“The port started working, export traffic started, and this can be called the first positive signal that there is a chance to stop the development of the food crisis in the world,” Zelenskiy said in his daily video address. At the same time, he warned:

“We cannot be under any illusions that Russia will simply refrain from trying to disrupt Ukrainian exports. Russia has consistently caused famine in African and Asian countries that traditionally imported significant amounts of Ukrainian food. And now – in conditions of extreme heat, as this year in Europe, the threat of a price crisis and a certain shortage of food is also present for some European countries.”

He also said that 16 ships are awaiting their turn for shipment and “we are ready to make an adequate contribution to the stabilization of the world food market.”

He also stated that over a million jobs in Ukraine depend on the resumption of traffic.

The first Ukrainian grain ship left the port of Odesa on Monday morning under the controversial agreement to resume grain exports to the Black Sea. It is the first shipment since the outbreak of war by Russia.

The Pentagon announced on Monday an additional package of security assistance for Ukraine, worth up to $550 million, including ammunition for missile launchers, which are increasingly important in the battle, according to CNN.

This aid is to “include additional munitions for the (…) HIMARS systems,” announced a White House spokesman, John Kirby.

“The capabilities of this package include equipment that Ukrainians effectively use to defend their country, such as: 75,000 rounds of 155mm artillery ammunition; Additional ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Missile Systems (HIMARS) “, reports the Pentagon.

The Biden administration will authorize another $550 million security assistance package to Ukraine today, the National Security Council John Kirby announces.

“It brings to more than $8 billion…in material and security assistance for Ukraine, just since the invasion began.” pic.twitter.com/bvRNkaAf4W

— CBS News (@CBSNews) August 1, 2022

The value of the military assistance granted to Ukraine since the installation of Joe Biden in the White House thus increases by more than eight billion dollars.

This new aid also includes 75,000 155 millimeter shells, the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The United States will continue to cooperate with its allies and partners to provide Ukraine with key capabilities,” the Pentagon emphasizes.

The highly mobile HIMARS-type systems fire GPS-guided missiles with a range of 80 kilometers, allowing the Ukrainian military to hit Russian targets it previously could not.

The Ukrainian military says every attempt by Russian forces to advance into eastern Donetsk region over the past 24 hours has been repulsed. In the latest update on the situation on the battlefield, the Ukrainian General Staff said that in several areas the Russians sent reconnaissance units forward, which suffered losses and withdrew, according to CNN.

“The enemy tried to improve the tactical position in Soledar, Vershyna and Bakhmut areas with assault actions, but failed and retreated,” the General Staff reported.

Ukrainian authorities say another Russian effort to advance near Avdiivka, north of the city of Donetsk, was also repulsed and hostilities in the area continued.

North of the city of Sloviansk, the Russians continued to shell several settlements – most of them empty except for military positions. But “Defense Forces have exposed and neutralized an enemy reconnaissance group,” the General Staff also said.

Along much of the front line, the Russians resorted to heavy artillery and tank fire, but appear to have made little progress. The General Staff claimed that the lack of Russian success on the ground was due to “significant losses of manpower, military equipment and low morale” of the enemy troops.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday called on Russia to honor its nuclear arms control commitments, accusing Moscow of “reckless and dangerous rattling of nuclear sabers” in the war in Ukraine, CNN reports.

In remarks at the start of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) Review Conference at the United Nations, the top US diplomat noted that Russia had joined the other nuclear powers in the NPT – the United States, the United Kingdom, France and China – in a statement common in January, stressing the importance of avoiding nuclear war and the arms race.

“The very next month, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is engaging in reckless and dangerous nuclear saber-rattling actions, with President Putin warning that those who support Ukraine’s self-defense, “risk consequences the likes of which have not been seen in your entire history,'” Blinken said.

Blinken said Russia’s war violates the UN Charter, the rules-based international order, and the Budapest Memorandum, the 1994 accord under which Russia pledged to respect Ukraine’s sovereignty and Kiev agreed to give up its nuclear weapons arsenal.

“What message does this send to any country around the world who might think they have to have nuclear weapons to protect, to defend themselves, to deter an aggression against their sovereignty and independence? The worst possible message. And so it is directly relevant to what is happening here this month at the United Nations,” he said.

“Russia is now using the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant as a military base to fire on the Ukrainians, knowing that they cannot and will not fire back because they might accidentally hit a reactor or the highly radioactive waste in the repository,” Blinken said.

“There is no place in our world for a nuclear deterrent based on coercion, intimidation or blackmail,” he said.

French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed on Monday, during a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the departure from Odesa of the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain, according to a press release from the Élysée Palace, CNN notes.

“He also indicated that European efforts to export Ukrainian grain by land and river will continue.” The conversation between Macron and Zelensky lasted an hour and a half, according to the Elysée Palace.

Regarding the recent attack by Russian forces on the Olenivka detention center, “the French president reaffirmed his support for the Ukrainian people and their resistance and spoke of his determination to ensure that these crimes do not go unpunished “.

Macron also asked Zelenski about his “military, humanitarian and economic needs,” the statement said. It “confirmed France’s willingness to continue supporting the Ukrainian armed forces to enable them to resist Russian aggression.”

Vladimir Putin said in a letter to participants of a nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) conference on Monday that there could be no winners in a nuclear war and that such a war should never be launched, reports The Guardian, according to Reuters.

“We proceed from the fact that there can be no winners in a nuclear war and that it should never be started, and we support equal and indivisible security for all members of the world community,” Putin said.

In a speech on February 24, when he launched the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Putin pointedly referred to Russia’s nuclear arsenal and warned foreign powers that any attempt to intervene “will lead you to consequences that you have not encountered never in your history.”

A few days later, he ordered Russia’s nuclear forces to be put on high alert.