Washington announced the inclusion of dozens of companies and individuals linked to Russia in the sanctions list, and the first ship carrying Ukrainian grain arrived in Istanbul on its way to Lebanon, and Kyiv confirmed the readiness of other ships to set off, while Moscow warned of the consequences of not implementing its grain export agreement.

And the US Treasury said that new sanctions target an elite group of people close to the Kremlin, and impose restrictions on their access to travel visas.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen emphasized that Washington would use every tool at its disposal to ensure that Russian elites and Kremlin backers are held accountable for their complicity in the war.

Yellen stressed that the United States will continue to work with its allies to stifle revenue that supports Russia's unwarranted war in Ukraine.

Among the targets of the sanctions is Russian businessman Andrei Guriev, founder of the fertilizer company Fusagro, a close associate of President Vladimir Putin and a former member of the Russian government.

The new US sanctions also target Magnitogorsk, "one of the world's largest steel producers" and "one of Russia's largest taxpayers."

For its part, the US State Department announced visa restrictions on 893 Russian officials and 31 foreign officials for their role in the war in Ukraine.

grain agreement

On the other hand, yesterday evening, Tuesday, the Razzoni cargo ship, carrying 26 tons of corn to Lebanon, arrived in Istanbul, after crossing the Bosphorus Strait from the Black Sea, as part of the implementation of the Istanbul Agreement between Russia and Ukraine.

The head of the Turkish team at the Joint Coordination Center of the Grain Corridor in Istanbul, Ozcan Eltunbulak, confirmed that the Razoni ship will arrive in Istanbul last night, and said that teams from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations will check the cargo before allowing the ship to continue sailing to its destination.

"We are aware that the world's eyes are on us and interested in our work in the Joint Coordination Center for the Grain Corridor. We are also aware of the importance of our role in this center and we will continue the coordination work entrusted to us in the center," he added.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that it is too early to predict future events or to rely on Russia in the work of Ukrainian ports.

At the same time, Zelensky considered that the departure of the ship Razoni from the port of Odessa sends a positive sign that there is a real opportunity to stop the exacerbation of the food crisis in the world, pointing out that farmers need to continue exporting to be able to secure the resources of the next season.

He pointed out that there are 16 other ships in Odessa ports waiting for their turn to leave, and that his country is ready to contribute to the stability of the global food market.

The Ukrainian president also said that his country's goal now is to ensure the continuity and permanence of grain ships crossing and exporting continuously, accusing Russia of fabricating a food crisis to use grain export as a weapon, just as it does with gas and oil, as he put it.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Oleksandra Azarkhina, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine and responsible for the export file through Ukrainian ports, said that Kyiv wants to take out a group of ships loaded with grain daily, adding that international pressure from Turkey and the United Nations is pushing Russia to abide by its obligations towards the Istanbul Agreement.

Azarkhina added to the island that Ukraine aims to extract 8 million tons of grain using sea lanes, and indicated that her country keeps in its stores more than 20 million tons last year.

Russia warns

On the other hand, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced on Tuesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will discuss with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during their meeting in Sochi next Friday, the implementation of the Ukrainian grain deal.

Peskov added that the meeting will also become an opportunity to set the clocks on the effectiveness of the mechanism for exporting grain from Ukrainian ports.

For its part, the Russian Foreign Ministry warned of the consequences of not implementing the part related to the export of Russian grain of the Istanbul agreements.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a press conference that failure to implement this part of the agreement threatens the world without tens of millions of tons of Russian grain.

Explosions and battles

On the ground, Al-Jazeera correspondent reported hearing two explosions in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, and said that sirens sounded in the city.

The Ukrainian army said yesterday that the pace of battles with the Russian side is witnessing a noticeable increase in the south of the country, especially in Mykolaiv and the entire Kherson regions.

And the Ukrainian army announced in a statement that its forces had recaptured more than 50 towns in the vicinity of Kherson that were under the control of Russian forces.

He also announced that his forces repelled Russian counter-attacks on more than one axis between Mykolaiv and Kherson, and destroyed 4 Russian ammunition depots, a military base, anti-aircraft missile complex and self-propelled guns.