The first ships from Ukraine may depart within days under a deal agreed on Friday, the United Nations said, despite a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port of Odessa over the weekend, and a military command spokesman said another missile had hit the area of Odessa on Tuesday morning. Rising energy costs and the threat of hunger facing millions in the poorest countries show how Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II, now in its sixth month, is having an impact far beyond Ukraine. European Union countries are set to approve on Tuesday a watered-down emergency proposal to curb natural gas demand as they try to wean themselves off Russian energy and prepare for a possible outage. The Ukrainian military on Tuesday reported Russian cruise missile strikes in the south and that Ukrainian forces struck enemy targets. Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesman for the military command in Odessa, told a Ukrainian television channel that a missile fired from the direction of the Black Sea hit the area, but gave no information on casualties. East of Odessa along the Black Sea coast, port infrastructure in Mykolaiv was damaged in an attack, according to Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich. The Russian Defense Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment after hours. A large fire broke out at an oil warehouse in the Budionovsky district of Russia-backed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine after Ukrainian troops shelled the province, Russia’s TASS reported, citing a journalist at the scene. No casualties or injuries have been reported. Russian energy giant Gazprom, citing guidance from an industry watchdog, said on Monday that natural gas flows to Germany via the Nord Stream 1 pipeline would be cut to 33 million cubic meters per day from Wednesday. This is half the current flows, which is already only 40% of the normal capacity. Before the war, Europe imported about 40% of its natural gas and 30% of its oil from Russia. The Kremlin says the gas cut is a result of maintenance issues and Western sanctions, while the European Union has accused Russia of energy blackmail. Politicians in Europe have repeatedly said Russia could cut off natural gas this winter, a move that would push Germany into recession and hit consumers already hurt by soaring inflation. Moscow says it is not interested in a complete cutoff of gas supplies to Europe. Adding to concerns on the energy front, Ukraine’s state-owned pipeline operator said Russian gas giant Gazprom without warning abruptly increased pressure on a pipeline that runs through Ukraine to deliver Russian gas to Europe. Such pressure spikes could lead to emergency situations, including pipeline ruptures, and pipeline operators are obliged to inform each other in advance, the Ukrainian company said. Gazprom could not immediately be reached for comment. SHIPS OF SIKIRUS Before the invasion and subsequent sanctions, Russia and Ukraine accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports. Officials from Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations agreed on Friday that there would be no attacks on merchant ships moving through the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus strait and markets. Moscow brushed aside concerns that the deal could be derailed by a Russian attack on Odessa on Saturday, saying it only targeted military infrastructure. The White House said the strike cast doubt on Russia’s credibility and was watching closely to see if the pledges would be met. “We will also continue to actively explore other options with the international community to increase Ukraine’s exports via land routes,” it said. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has blocked grain exports from Ukraine since Moscow invaded on February 24. Moscow blames Western sanctions for slowing food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining approaches to its ports. Under Friday’s agreement, pilots will guide the ships along safe channels to the minefields. A Ukrainian government official said he hoped the first shipment of grain could be made from Chornomorsk this week, with shipments from other ports within two weeks. Zelensky was adamant that trade would resume: “We will start exports and let the partners take care of security,” he said. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on a tour of African countries, said there were no barriers to grain exports and nothing in the deal prevented Moscow from attacking military infrastructure. The Kremlin also said the United Nations must ensure restrictions on Russian fertilizer and other exports are lifted for the grain deal to work. AIR STRIKES The Kremlin says it is engaged in a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “de-nitroze” Ukraine. Both Kyiv and Western nations say the war is an unprovoked act of aggression. Thousands of civilians have died and millions have fled during the war. Russian artillery barrages and airstrikes have pulverized cities. With Western weapons bolstering the Ukrainians, Putin’s forces are making slow progress but are believed to be ready for a new push in the east. Ukraine said on Monday that its forces have used US-supplied HIMARS missile systems to destroy 50 Russian ammunition depots since receiving the weapons last month. Russia did not comment, but its defense ministry said its forces destroyed an ammunition depot for HIMARS systems. Our Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
