Damage to ammonia pipeline in Ukraine 'to be taken into account' at grain deal talks: Russia

By Elena Teslova

MOSCOW (AA) - The damage to the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline will be taken into account in further contacts on the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the Russian deputy foreign minister said on Friday.

Speaking in an interview with Russia's Rossiya 24 TV channel, Mikhail Galuzin stressed that the restoration of fertilizers deliveries via the pipeline was "one of the most important components of the grain deal."

"The Kyiv regime struck a blow to the efforts of the international community to ensure global food security, to fight hunger," he claimed.

Russia and Ukraine on Wednesday accused each other of blasting the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline.

Moscow claims Kyiv’s armed forces mined and exploded the infrastructure after the UN officials increased pressure on Ukraine demanding the resumption of supplies of Russian fertilizers.

Meanwhile, Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Ukraine's Kharkiv region, said Russia's shelling of the region caused the leak.

Last July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

The Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline was used for ammonia (a wide-use fertilizer) supplies from the Russian city of Tolyatti to Ukraine's port of Odesa where it was loaded to vessels for further deliveries across the world.

Last year, Nord Stream gas pipelines were blasted in the Baltic Sea, cutting off gas supplies from Russia to Germany.