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Russia and Ukraine Say Ammonia Pipeline Was Damaged, in Potential Blow to Grain Deal

Communal employees work on a site of an overnight explosion in the center of Kharkiv on June 6, 2023, following missile strike, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Communal employees work on a site of an overnight explosion in the center of Kharkiv on June 6, 2023, following missile strike, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
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Russia and Ukraine Say Ammonia Pipeline Was Damaged, in Potential Blow to Grain Deal

Communal employees work on a site of an overnight explosion in the center of Kharkiv on June 6, 2023, following missile strike, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Communal employees work on a site of an overnight explosion in the center of Kharkiv on June 6, 2023, following missile strike, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)

A pipeline used to transport ammonia fertilizer from Russia via Ukraine which may be central to the future of the Black Sea grain deal has been damaged, according to both Kyiv and Moscow, potentially complicating talks around the accord.

Russia's defense ministry said a "Ukrainian sabotage group" had blown up a section of the pipeline on Monday night near the village of Masyutivka in Kharkiv region. The village is on the frontline between Russian and Ukrainian troops.

"As a result of this terrorist act, there were civilian casualties. They have been provided with necessary medical assistance," the Russian ministry said in a statement.

"At present ammonia residues are being blown out of the damaged sections of the pipeline from Ukrainian territory. There are no casualties among Russian servicemen."

Oleh Sinehubov, the governor of Ukraine's Kharkiv region gave a different version of events. He said in a statement posted on Telegram that Russian troops had shelled the pipeline.

Six Russian shells had landed near a pumping station near Masyutivka at around 5.45 pm (1445 GMT) on Tuesday, nearly 24 hours after Moscow alleged Ukraine had blown up the same pipeline, he said.

Reuters could not independently verify the Russian and Ukrainian assertions.

Resumption of supplies via the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline, the world's longest ammonia pipeline, may be key to the renewal of the Black Sea grain export deal. The pipeline has been closed since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 in what it called a "special military operation".

Russia has repeatedly cast doubt on whether it will continue to renew the grain deal, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye, which facilitates agricultural exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea.

Among the conditions for renewal that Moscow has put forward is resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline.

Moscow has said it will limit the number of ships allowed to travel to Ukraine's Pivdennyi port near Odesa under the deal until the pipeline is restarted.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it would take between one and three months to repair the damaged section of the pipeline.

"The ammonia pipeline was one of the linchpins of the implementation of the agreements made in Istanbul on July 22. The (pipeline) was key to global food security," Zakharova said.

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Azerbaijani Minister Says Plane That Crashed Was Hit from the Outside, Possibly by a Weapon

A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)
A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)
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Azerbaijani Minister Says Plane That Crashed Was Hit from the Outside, Possibly by a Weapon

A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)
A view shows the wreckage of an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger plane at the crash site near the city of Aktau, Kazakhstan December 25, 2024. (Administration of Mangystau region/Handout via Reuters)

An Azerbaijani minister suggested Friday that an airliner that crashed this week was hit by a weapon, citing expert analysis and survivor testimony indicating that the plane was struck from the outside.

The statement from Rashad Nabiyev raised pressure on Russia. Officials in Moscow have said a drone attack was underway in the region that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for but have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian attack.

The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Grozny, the regional capital of the Russian republic of Chechnya, on Wednesday when it turned toward Kazakhstan and crashed while making an attempt to land there. The crash killed 38 people and left all 29 survivors injured.

Nabiyev, Azerbaijan’s minister of digital development and transportation, told Azerbaijani media that “preliminary conclusions by experts point at external impact,” as does witness testimony.

“The type of weapon used in the impact will be determined during the probe,” Nabiyev said.

Passengers and crew who survived the crash told Azerbaijani media that they heard loud noises on the aircraft as it was circling over Grozny.

Flight attendant Aydan Rahimli said that after one noise, the oxygen masks automatically released. She said that she went to perform first aid on a colleague, Zulfugar Asadov, and then they heard another bang.

Asadov said that the noises sounded like something hitting the plane from outside. He denied Kazakh officials’ claim that an oxygen canister exploded inside the plane.

Dmitry Yadrov, head of Russia’s civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia, said Friday that as the plane was preparing to land in Grozny in deep fog, Ukrainian drones were targeting the city, prompting authorities to close the area to air traffic.

Yadrov said that after the captain made two unsuccessful attempts to land, he was offered other airports but decided to fly to Aktau in Kazakhstan, across the Caspian Sea.

But he didn’t comment on statements from some aviation experts, who pointed out that holes seen in the plane’s tail section suggested that it could have come under fire from Russian air defense systems.

Ukrainian drones have previously attacked Grozny and other areas in the country’s North Caucasus.

Azerbaijan Airlines blamed the crash on unspecified “physical and technical interference” and announced the suspension of flights to several Russian airports. It didn’t say where the interference came from or provide any further details.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the claims that the plane was hit by Russian air defenses, saying that it will be up to investigators to determine the cause of the crash.

“The air incident is being investigated, and we don’t believe we have the right to make any assessments until the conclusions are made as a result of the investigation,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

If it’s proven that the plane crashed after being hit by Russian air defenses, it would be the second deadly civil aviation accident linked to fighting in Ukraine. Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was downed with a Russian surface-to-air missile, killing all 298 people aboard, as it flew over the area in eastern Ukraine controlled by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014.

Russia has denied responsibility, but a Dutch court in 2022 convicted two Russians and a pro-Russia Ukrainian man for their role in downing the plane with an air defense system brought into Ukraine from a Russian military base.

Investigators from Azerbaijan are working in Grozny as part of the probe of Wednesday's crash, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General’s office said in a statement.

Following Wednesday's suspension of flights from Baku to Grozy and Makhachkala, Azerbaijan Airlines announced Friday that it would also halt service to eight more Russian cities.

The company will continue to operate flights to six Russian cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. Those cities also have been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian drone strikes in the past.

Kazakhstan's Qazaq Air also announced Friday that it was suspending flights from Astana to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains for a month.

FlyDubai also halted flights to Sochi and Mineralnye Vody in southern Russian for the next few days.

The day before, Israel's El Al carrier suspended flights from Tel Aviv to Moscow citing “developments in Russia’s airspace." The airline said it would reassess the situation next week.