Russia accused Ukraine on Wednesday of orchestrating the blast on the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, the world’s longest, condemning the “terrorist act” that injured several civilians, AFP and Reuters reported, citing Agerpres.

According to some pro-Russian sources, the toxic cloud that will spread from the ammonia pipelinePhoto: Not provided / WillWest News / Profimedia

“A Ukrainian subversive group blew up the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” with a length of about 2,400 kilometers, the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

This “terrorist act” was committed on Monday evening near Masyutivka, a village in Kharkiv Oblast (in northeastern Ukraine), a region occupied by Russian forces at the start of the invasion that began last February and has since been largely retaken. by Ukrainian troops in the autumn offensive.

The ammonia pipeline starts in the Russian city of Tolyatti, located on the banks of the Volga, and ends in Odesa, Ukraine’s largest port on the Black Sea, allowing Russia to export more than 2.5 million tons of ammonia annually – an important compound in the production of chemical fertilizers – especially to EU countries .

The transportation of ammonia through this pipeline was suspended with the beginning of the Russian offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.

The restoration of the pipeline, which Moscow is demanding, is part of its negotiations with Kyiv, mediated by the UN and Turkey, regarding the extension of the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.

The press secretary of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, said that the repair of the pipeline damaged by the explosion will take 1-3 months.

Ukraine: Russian troops repeatedly bombed an ammonia pipeline in the Kharkiv region

Russian troops repeatedly fired at an ammonia pipeline in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the local governor said on Tuesday evening, Reuters reports.

After the terrorist attack on the pipeline near the village of Masyutivka late on Tuesday and another night explosion near the village of Zahidne, there were no leaks, the governor of the Kharkiv region Oleg Synegubov said.

Nothing threatens people’s lives and health,” Sinegubov said in Telegram.

The ammonia pipeline, the longest in the world, stretches approximately 2,470 kilometers from Togliatti in Russia on the Volga River to three ports on the Black Sea. It was closed after Russia invaded Ukraine.

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