Ukrainian shipment of grain leaves Odessa port, first since Russian invasion

Ukraine finally take a small but crucial step to unlocking the millions of tons of grains piling up in the country and boosting global food supplies. Marks its first shipment since Russia’s invasion.

Ukraine has made its first shipment of grain since Russia’s invasion, marking a small but crucial first step toward unlocking the millions of tons of grains piling up in the country and boosting global food supplies.

Bulk carrier carrying a cargo of 26,000 tonnes of corn, leaves Ukraine's port of Odessa, en route to Tripoli in Lebanon, on August 1, 2022, amid Russia's military invasion launched on Ukraine.  (AFP)

President Vladimir Putin said over the weekend Russia’s navy would soon be equipped with powerful Zircon hypersonic cruise missiles, which can fly at five times the speed of sound. He signed a new naval doctrine and vowed to respond “with lightning speed to anyone who decides to encroach on our sovereignty and freedom.”

Russian shelling killed a Ukrainian grain magnate and President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged civilians in the Donetsk region to evacuate as a potentially lengthy ground battle rages in the eastern region.

Key Developments

• First Grains Ship Leaves Ukraine for Lebanon in Key Milestone
• Ukraine Downgraded by S&P as Default Becomes ‘Virtual Certainty’
• Ukraine’s First Grain Ship May Depart on Monday, Turkey Says
• Founder of Ukraine Grain Firm Nibulon Killed by Russian Shelling
• Lebanon Seizes Ship Accused of Carrying Stolen Ukrainian Grain

On the Ground

With the invasion now well into its sixth month, Russia continues to launch air and missile strikes against military and civilian targets. Fighting was underway in most of the southern Kherson region, Ukraine’s military said. Russia shelled Mykolaiv again, following the most significant attack on the southern port city since the war started, according to its mayor. Russian forces may be preparing a new offensive toward Kharkiv even as they are “extremely unlikely” to seize Ukraine’s second-largest city or the region around it, the Institute for the Study of War said.

Ukraine’s First Grain Ship Departs (8:43 a.m.)

The Razoni, a cargo ship loaded with 26,000 tons of corn, left for Lebanon on Monday morning, according to Turkey, which helped broker last month’s deal with Russia to restart grain exports.

Ukraine is one of the biggest wheat, corn and vegetable-oil suppliers and the loss of exports via its Black Sea ports has shaken the global food trade and raised the threat of a global food crisis.

Chubais Says He’s in Clinic With Illness (8:07 p.m.)

Former Russian climate envoy Anatoly Chubais said he has been hospitalized in a European clinic. Chubais, 67, was the highest-level Russian government insider to step down and leave the country after Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“The diagnosis is Guillain-Barre syndrome,” he wrote in a message. “Condition of moderate severity, stable.”

Chubais is known as the architect of Russia’s 1990s privatizations. Before the war, he was one of few economic reformers who hadremained in Putin’s government and maintained close ties with Western officials.