live blog
Status: 08/20/2022 12:21
UN Secretary-General Guterres has arrived in Istanbul and wants to visit the grain export control center. Ukraine offers to transport Russian gas through its own pipelines. All developments on the live blog.
12:09 pm
Guterres arrived in Istanbul
UN Secretary-General António Guterres arrived in Istanbul, Turkey. The centerpiece of your stay is a visit to the newly created grain export control center. This center controls freighters on which grain or flour is exported from Ukraine or on its way to Ukraine.
Ukraine’s grain exports had long been blocked because of the Russian war of aggression. In July, Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the UN and Turkey, reached an agreement that would make exports possible again. The condition was that the freighters be checked, as Moscow feared that Ukraine might also have weapons delivered to its own country by sea.
10:00 am
Green energy expert: Another politically motivated gas stop
Green energy expert Lisa Badum sees the interruption of gas supplies to Germany announced by Russia as a political ploy by President Vladimir Putin’s Russian leadership. In an interview with Deutschlandfunk, she again warned that Germany must become independent from Russian energy as soon as possible.
Russian energy company Gazprom announced last night that it would completely halt already reduced gas deliveries through Nord Stream 1 from August 31 to September 2. This was justified with the maintenance work.
9:36 am
China gets more energy resources from Russia
China increased its coal and oil imports from Russia again last month. Last month, the People’s Republic received about 7.15 million tons of oil from Russia – compared to July 2021, this means an increase of 7.6%. This is according to customs information in the Chinese capital, Beijing.
At the same time, Chinese coal imports from Russia reached their highest level in more than five years. Thus, imports in July totaled 7.42 million tons. This is about 14% more than in the same month last year.
9:31 am
Russia reports another drone crash over Crimea
On the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russia, Russian fleet air defenses shot down another drone, Sevastopol city chief Mikhail Rasvozhayev said. Burning wreckage landed on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters building. There was also an explosion. The footage was released on social media to show a plume of smoke rising from the roof of the building. According to Raswoschajew, however, no serious damage was done. He blamed Ukraine for the attack.
conflicting parties as source
Information on the course of the war, bombing and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian parties to the conflict cannot be directly verified by an independent body in the current situation.
9:06 am
More grain freighters set sail
According to the Turkish Defense Ministry, two more grain freighters have left the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk. That would increase the number of ships exporting grain from the war-torn country to 27 since the agreement between the UN, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.
8:15 am
Ukraine offers alternative route for gas delivery
After Russia announced that it would stop supplying gas to Germany for several days, Ukraine offered to use the pipelines running through its own country for the transfer.
“The capacities of the Ukrainian gas transport system and the route through Poland are more than sufficient to ensure that Russian gas delivery obligations to European countries are met,” said the operator of the Ukrainian gas pipeline network. The alternate route is “in view of the chronic interruptions in Nord Stream 1’s work”.
Russian state-owned Gazprom announced yesterday that delivery via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would have to be suspended from August 31 to September 2 due to maintenance work. Russia has already throttled the amount of gas currently flowing through the pipeline to Germany to 20% of possible supply capacity.
7:32 am
Guterres wants to visit grain export control center
After his visit to Ukraine, UN Secretary General Guterres wants to visit the grain export control center created today in Turkey.
There, freighters that export grain from Ukraine or are on their way to being loaded are inspected. This provides for the agreement that the UN and Turkey negotiated with Ukraine and Russia. Moscow insisted on ensuring that the weapons were not shipped to Ukraine by sea.
According to the UN, 600,000 tonnes of grain, flour and oil have been exported from Ukraine since the beginning of August.
6:45 am
Nouripour against the general EU entry ban for Russian citizens
Green leader Omid Nouripour is critical of a possible freeze on short-term visas granted to Russian citizens to enter the EU.
Nouripour told the dpa news agency that he understood the feelings of those who wanted to prevent Russian citizens from traveling to the EU in the face of the brutal attack on Ukraine. At the same time, he insisted on the principle of the rule of law in the EU.
So far, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic have restricted the issuance of these visas to Russians. Finland wants to follow from September, Poland is considering a similar deal. Denmark is pushing for an EU solution and otherwise wants to act too.
6:10 am
Zelenskyy: Moscow is planning “provocation” around nuclear power plants
In a video message, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned that Russia was planning a “large-scale provocation” at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The aim is to decouple the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and instead connect it to the Russian power grid.
The nuclear plant is under Russian control and has been bombed repeatedly in recent weeks. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for these attacks.
5:23 am
Friday live blog to read
The US has announced more supplies of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine worth about $775 million. After the recent setbacks, the Russian Black Sea Fleet must be strengthened. The developments in the live blog to read.