Russian and Ukrainian officials are scheduled to meet in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the delayed grain shipments that have driven up food prices worldwide, while Kyiv announced that it has destroyed a Russian military facility as the conflict continues.
One of the largest exporters of wheat and other grains, Ukraine has seen some of its shipments impeded by Russian warships and mines that Kiev has placed in the Black Sea.
The meetings, which will also be attended by a UN mission, will be held in Turkey, which has led efforts to revive the crucial grain trade.
On the ground, Kyiv said it had launched artillery that wrecked a Russian arms depot and also carried out a “special operation” to free military captives in the Moscow-controlled Kherson region.
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Ukrainian military officials said the strikes on Tuesday had destroyed artillery, armoured vehicles “and a warehouse with ammunition” in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka.
“The occupiers have already felt very well what modern artillery is and they will not have a safe rear anywhere on our land,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address.
Russian-backed authorities accused Ukraine of damaging civilian infrastructure and killing at least seven people.
“Warehouses were hit, as were shops, a pharmacy, petrol stations and even a church,” the head of the city’s Moscow-backed administration, Vladimir Leontiev, said on social media.
Ukrainian military intelligence also said its forces had freed five captives in the “special operation” in Kherson, including a military serviceman and former police officer, without specifying when.
The Ukrainian army has for several weeks been waging a counter-offensive to recapture Kherson, which was taken by Russian troops early in the invasion of Ukraine, which began in February.
The deputy head of the pro-Russian authorities in Kherson, Ekaterina Gubareva, said Ukraine had used long-range, precision artillery systems supplied by the United States in the strikes in Nova Kakhovka.
Military analysts are crediting newly arrived systems from the West — including HIMARS from the United States — with attacks deeper into Russian-controlled territory.
EU member states, which have been supplying Ukraine with military support, on Tuesday approved one billion euros ($1 billion) in financial help for Kyiv, billing it as the first instalment of a promised nine-billion-euro rescue package agreed in May.
The United States separately announced $1.7 billion for Ukraine to help fund recovery.
Moscow advanced its offensive across Ukraine, with officials in the southern city of Mykolaiv saying Russian forces had bombed two medical facilities and homes, injuring 12 people.
Five people were injured in Russian shelling on Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, said regional governor Oleg Synegubov, after strikes the previous day left seven dead across that region.
