Ukraine announced - on Monday - the start of preparations for the resumption of grain exports, according to measures being coordinated in Istanbul, in accordance with a previous agreement with Russia.

While Kyiv has revealed that it has obtained new weapons, battles continue between the Ukrainian and Russian forces on several fronts.

Kyiv announced that it expects to resume grain exports "this week" for the first time since the start of the war, in accordance with the agreement recently signed in Istanbul under the auspices of Turkey and the United Nations.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country will start exporting grain to prove to the whole world that it does not prevent the export of grain, stressing his confidence in Turkey and the United Nations to implement the agreement.

Zelensky believed that the continuation of Russia's blockade of the Black Sea would lead to famine in Africa and many Asian countries.

For his part, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kobrakov expected that work on the grain export agreement and the establishment of a coordination center in Istanbul would begin in the next few days, saying, "We are preparing everything to start this week."

He pointed out that the main obstacle to the export of grain is the dangers of the Russian bombing, especially after the strike that targeted the port of Odessa on the Black Sea (southern Ukraine) on Saturday.

Kobrakov called on Turkey and the United Nations, the guarantors of the agreement, to secure the Ukrainian shipments, warning that "if the parties do not guarantee security, it will not work."

The Ukrainian minister said that opening the Black Sea ports for export would bring Ukraine at least $1 billion a month.

Yury Vaskov, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, stated that the port of Chornomorsk (southwest) will be the first port from which shipments depart, followed by the port of Odessa (south), and then the port of Pevdny (southwest).

Vaskov said Kyiv hopes the first grain cargo ships will depart from the port of Chornomorsk this week.

On the other hand, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that there are no obstacles to the export of grain from Ukrainian ports.

The agreement signed Friday in Istanbul provides in particular for the establishment of "safe corridors" to allow the passage of merchant ships in the Black Sea.

The agreement allows the export of 20 to 25 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine, and facilitates the export of Russian agricultural products, which would mitigate the risk of a global food crisis.

The United Nations says there are 345 million people in the world suffering from acute food insecurity.

Ukraine and Russia together provide 30% of world wheat exports, and the war led to a rise in grain and oil prices, which negatively affected the African continent in particular.


alternative plan

For her part, the Director of the US Agency for International Development Samantha Power said that her country is working on what she called "Plan B" for Ukrainian grain exports after the bombing of the port of Odessa.

This plan includes roads, railroads, rivers, sending boats, and adjusting rail systems to better align with those in Europe, Power said.

Meanwhile, Russia on Monday defended its strikes on Odessa, stressing that they were targeting military sites and not impeding the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports.

Moscow confirmed that it had destroyed in this port a building used for military purposes, as well as missiles provided by the United States.


hot fronts

On the ground, the war has entered its sixth month and there is no calm on the fronts in Mykolaiv (south), Kharkiv (northeast), the second city of Ukraine, Kherson (south), and the pro-Russian separatist Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the east.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Ukraine reported that the Chuygov region, south of Kharkiv (northeast), was subjected to missile strikes targeting 3 different sites, and that one of the missiles hit the cultural center.

The Ukrainian Supreme Staff said that 8 towns in the Kharkiv province were subjected to missile and artillery shelling last night.

In the Kherson region (south), which is occupied by the Russians, the Ukrainians assert that they have intensified their counterattack.

The Ukrainian army announced that it had targeted the positions of the Russian army in Kherson Province, and destroyed an anti-tank missile complex, a command and control center and two ammunition depots.

Sergey Khelan, Adviser to the Head of the Ukrainian Military Administration of the Kherson region, spoke about the reversal of the situation on the ground during the recent operations, saying that the preference was given to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Khelan stressed that the Ukrainian army is advancing from the defense stage to the counterattack stage, pledging that the Kherson region will be liberated by next September.

On the other hand, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that its forces had destroyed a military cargo base for US munitions in the Khmelnytsk province in western Ukraine using high-precision missiles.

Polish tanks

On another topic, Andrei Yermak, director of the Ukrainian president's office, revealed that his country already has Polish "PT-91" tanks, and said that Kyiv is grateful to its Polish friends.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian presidency announced that President Zelensky, today, Monday, dismissed the commander of the special operations forces from his post.