MOSCOW, June 7Blowing up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in the Kharkiv region could put an end to the future of the grain deal, while it will probably take one to two months to restore the damaged section of the pipeline, said an independent expert in the field Industry and Energy Leonid Khazanov.
On Monday evening, a Ukrainian subversive group blew up the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in the Kharkiv region, there are victims among the civilian population, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, calling the incident a terrorist act.
“The explosion means the impossibility of restarting not only the ammonia pipeline, but also the Odessa port plant, which is its final destination … And, of course, sabotage on the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline (as well as the collapse of the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station) can put an end to the future fate of the grain deal : after it there is no point in extending it,» Khazanov said.
According to him, the pipeline since its shutdown last year, most likely, did not work, just all the ammonia contained in it was not removed from the pipe. “Why Ukrtransammiak didn’t do this as the operator of the Ukrainian part of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline is not clear, it might have been technically impossible. a week or more, here much depends on the amount of ammonia in the pipe. The process of restoring the affected area may take one to two months, «the expert emphasized.
At the same time, the damage to the ammonia pipeline itself, as the expert believes, can be relatively small, in contrast to the damage area — a radius of several kilometers. Khazanov noted that the degree of danger of an accident for people depends on how far their houses were from the pipe, how many people lived in them, whether there are green spaces, what is the wind rose and air temperature, however, in any case, one should quickly evacuate from there population.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was signed on July 22, 2022 by representatives of Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the UN, involves the export of Ukrainian grain, food and fertilizer across the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The coordination of vessel traffic is handled by the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul. Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out in September that the West exports most of the Ukrainian grain to its own states, and not to needy countries in Africa.
The grain initiative is an integral part of the package agreement. The second part — the Russia-UN memorandum, designed for three years — provides for the unblocking of Russian exports of food and fertilizers, the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services, the restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other measures. As noted in Moscow, this part of the package agreement has not yet been implemented.