Moscow: Ukrainian forces blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in the Kharkov Region on the evening of June 5, with civilians hurt in the sabotage attack, Russian Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov said on Wednesday, Russian News Agency TASS reported.
“At about 9:00 p.m. Moscow time on June 5, a Ukrainian subversive and reconnaissance group blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline near the settlement of Masyutovka in the Kharkov Region. Civilians were injured as a result of this terrorist act,” the spokesman said.
The injured civilians received medical assistance, the general said.
“Currently, the ammonia remnants are being drained through the damaged pipeline sections from Ukrainian territory. There are no casualties among Russian army personnel,” Konashenkov said, TASS reported.
In the Kupyansk direction, Russian forces destroyed over 50 Ukrainian troops, three armoured combat vehicles, two motor vehicles and a US-made Paladin self-propelled artillery gun in the past 24 hours, the general reported.
A day ago, TASS reported several explosions near the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in the Kharkov Region’s Kupyansk district, head of the region’s military administration, Oleg Sinegubov, said on Tuesday.
According to Sinegubov, six blasts were reported near a pumping station in the village of Maksyutovka, TASS reported. “As of now, there is no ammonia in the air. The situation is under control,” he wrote on his Telegram channel.
On Monday, he reported a loss of pressure at the ammonia pipeline in the Kupyansk district. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky pledged on Tuesday that the pipeline would be restored “if need be.”
The resumption of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline’s operation is part of the package deal to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. The grain deal was extended for two months on May 18, TASS reported.
The Russian foreign ministry said earlier that the part of the deal concerning obligations to Moscow is not being implemented. Moscow insists on granting Russian ships access to foreign ports, settling the situation around cargo insurance, connecting Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT system, and commissioning the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, TASS reported.
After the deal was prolonged, Moscow expressed the hope that its demands would be met and warned that if they weren’t, the deal might not be extended again. (ANI)