Massive oil-fed fire burns near supertanker port in Matanzas as Mexico and Venezuela send teams to help fight the inferno and Cuba accepts US offer of unspecified "technical advice".
Disaster comes at a time when the island has faced mounting difficulties in meeting increased energy demands amid severe summer heat.
(AFP)
Cuba has asked for help to contain a massive fire at a fuel depot that has left at least one person dead, 121 people injured and 17 firefighters missing.
Some 1,900 people have been evacuated from the affected area, according to officials from the western Matanzas province, where lightning struck a fuel tank late on Friday, triggering an explosion.
By the early hours of Saturday, the fire had spread to a second tank, causing another blast and sending a huge plume of black smoke into the sky.
Provincial health official Luis Armando Wong told a press conference on Saturday evening a first body had been recovered at the site.
Five people were critically injured, according to an update by the Cuban presidency on Twitter, with three others in a very serious condition in hospital.
The wounded included Energy Minister Livan Arronte.
The president's office said 17 firefighters were missing, those "who were closest" to the fire in an industrial zone of Matanzas, a city some 100 kilometers east of Havana.
"Cuba requested help and advice from friendly countries with experience in fuel" to help put out the fire, the presidency added in a statement.
Later in the day, President Miguel Diaz-Canel expressed thanks to the governments of Mexico, Venezuela, Russia, Nicaragua, Argentina and Chile, "which have promptly offered material aid."
"We also appreciate the offer of technical advice from the US," he added.
The US embassy in Havana said on Twitter: "We want to make clear that law authorises US entities and organisations to provide disaster relief and response in Cuba."
The United States has had sanctions against the one-party Communist state for six decades.
Dousing blaze 'could take time'
The fire broke out after a bolt of lightning struck a tank on Friday at the depot on the outskirts of Matanzas, a city of 140,000 people.
Helicopters were hard at work fighting the blaze on Saturday, with ambulances, water tanks and cranes at the scene.
Exhausted firefighters were gathered at the plant, waiting to enter to look for their comrades who seemingly could not escape the second explosion.
"We felt the blast, like a shock wave that pushed you back," Laura Martinez, a resident of La Ganadera, near the disaster zone, told the AFP news agency.
Diaz-Canel said extinguishing the blaze "could take time," while Asbel Leal, director of the Cupet state oil company, said the country had never experienced a fire "of the magnitude we have today."
According to Cupet, the first tank contained about 26,000 cubic metres of crude, about half its capacity, when it was struck by lightning.
The second contained 52,000 cubic metres of fuel oil.
The disaster comes at a time when the island –– with an outdated energy network and persistent fuel shortages –– has faced mounting difficulties in meeting increased energy demands amid severe summer heat.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a missile strike on the port of Odesa as "Russian barbarism" just a day after the warring sides struck a deal to resume cereal exports blocked by the conflict.
The Ukrainian military said its air defenses had shot down two cruise missiles but two more hit the port Saturday, threatening the landmark agreement hammered out over months of negotiations aimed at relieving a global food crisis.
Zelensky said the strikes on Odesa showed Moscow could not be trusted to keep its promises.
"Today's Russian missile attack on Odesa, on our port, is a cynical one, and it was also a blow to the political positions ofRussiaitself," Zelensky said in his nightly address, adding dialogue with Moscow was becoming increasingly untenable.
"This apparent Russian barbarism brings us even closer to obtaining the very weapons we need for our victory," Zelensky added.
The strike came a day after Moscow and Kyiv agreed a deal brokered by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations chief Antonio Guterres.
Odessa is one of three export hubs designated in the agreement and Ukrainian officials said grain was being stored in the port at the time of the strike, although the food stocks did not appear to have been hit.
Guterres — who presided over the signing ceremony on Friday — "unequivocally" condemned the attack, his deputy spokesman said, and urged all sides to stick to the deal.
"These products are desperately needed to address the global food crisis and ease the suffering of millions of people in need around the globe," he said.
The EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell directly blamedRussiafor the strikes.
"Striking a target crucial for grain export a day after the signature of (the) Istanbul agreements is particularly reprehensible and again demonstratesRussia's total disregard for international law and commitments," he said.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said the attack was "absolutely appalling" and "completely unwarranted."
The United States also "strongly condemned" the attack, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying it "casts serious doubt on the credibility ofRussia's commitment to yesterday's deal."
There was no official comment from Moscow, but Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar saidRussiahad denied carrying out the attack.
"The Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and they were looking into the issue very closely," Akar said in comments to state news agency Anadolu.
"We will continue to fulfil our responsibilities under the agreement we reached yesterday," he added.
Regional governor Maksym Marchenko said the strikes left people wounded and damaged port infrastructure in Odessa, without specifying the number or severity of the injuries.
20 million tons of wheat
The first major accord between the countries sinceRussia's February invasion of Ukraine aims to ease the "acute hunger" the UN says an additional 47 million people are facing because of the war.
Ukraine at the signing warned it would conduct "an immediate military response" shouldRussiaviolate the accord and attack its ships or stage an incursion around its ports.
Zelensky said responsibility for enforcing the deal fell to the UN, which along with Turkey is a co-guarantor of the agreement.
The deal includes points on running Ukrainian grain ships along safe corridors that avoid known mines in the Black Sea.
Huge quantities of wheat and other grain have been blocked in Ukrainian ports by Russian warships and the mines Kyiv laid to avert a feared amphibious assault.
Zelensky said that around 20 million tons of produce from last year's harvest and the current crop would be exported under the agreement, estimating the value of Ukraine's grain stocks at around $10 billion.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu told Kremlin state media he expected the deal to start working "in the next few days" although diplomats expect grain to only start fully flowing by mid-August.
Strikes on central Ukraine
Russiais trying to fight deeper into the eastern Donetsk region after securing full control of neighboring Luhansk.
The U.S. State Department on Saturday said two Americans had died in the area, without saying whether the pair were in the country for combat purposes.
Russian missile strikes on railway infrastructure and a military airfield in the central area of Kirovograd on Saturday also killed at least three people and wounded 16 more, regional governor Andriy Raikovych said.
At least one of the dead was a serviceman, he said earlier — a rare admission of a military casualty as combat deaths have been closely guarded by both sides.
Russiaalso pursued an artillery campaign over Ukraine's second city, Kharkiv, with attacks wounding one woman, the presidency said. An elderly farmer was killed in further shelling in Sumy, northwest of Kharkiv.
Two others, including a teenager, were wounded in strikes on Mykolaiv, the largest city under Ukrainian control near Russian-occupied Kherson and the southern front, which has been shelled persistently since the beginning of the invasion.
LONDON: Unions, port officials and the French authorities blamed Brexit on Saturday as thousands of holidaymakers faced long delays trying to reach Europe via the English Channel port of Dover.
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss laid the blame squarely on Paris, insisting: “The French authorities have not put enough people on the border.”
But officials on the other side of the Channel rejected claims that the gridlock was caused by under-staffing.
Border checks and extra paperwork for freight traffic were reintroduced when Britain left the European Union last year, ending free movement for people and goods in the bloc.
Bottlenecks of lorries at Dover have been seen since then but this summer is the first with unrestricted travel for the public since the lifting of all Covid restrictions.
French lawmaker Pierre-Henri Dumont, whose constituency includes the French Channel port of Calais, called the travel chaos “an aftermath of Brexit”.
“We have to run more checks than before,” he told BBC television, predicting it would happen again.
Port of Dover chief executive Doug Bannister initially blamed a lack of French border agency staff for the logjam which saw some holidaymakers wait six hours or longer to catch their ferries.
But he conceded there were now “increased transaction times” post-Brexit. The port was confident of handling the demand at peak periods, he added.
Brexit figurehead Boris Johnson made “taking back control” of UK borders a rallying call for his “leave” campaign in the 2016 vote on EU membership.
Since becoming prime minister, he has found that more difficult, with record numbers of migrants crossing from northern France in small boats.
The leader of Kent County Council, Roger Gough, estimated that 3,000 lorries were waiting to get to the port on Saturday morning.
Kent Police said motorists should still expect “significant delays”.
Lucy Moreton, from the ISU union that represents borders, immigration and customs staff, said the tailbacks were a “reasonably predictable” result of Brexit.
“This is the time that it’s chosen to bite,” she told the BBC.
Third country
Passengers have to go through both UK and French border checks at Dover before boarding ferries to northern France.
By 12:45 pm (1145 GMT), the Port of Dover said more than 17,000 passengers had already gone through.
Bannister said some 8,500 vehicles had left the port on Friday, with about 10,000 expected on Saturday.
Queues for the port snaked through Dover and surrounding roads, stretching kilometres (miles), with lorries backed up the M20 motorway leading to the town.
A traffic management system was rolled out on the M20 to manage the high volume of lorries backed up towards Dover.
That included closing parts of the motorway to non-freight traffic and diverting cars towards the port and the Eurotunnel by other routes.
Eurotunnel said its train shuttle services for vehicles between nearby Folkestone and Coquelles in northern France were two hours behind schedule.
The prefect of the Hauts-de-France region Georges-Francois Leclerc said France had “done its job” by increasing its border staff in Dover from 120 to 200.
He blamed the traffic jams on an accident on the M20 on Friday for the late arrival of French border agency staff at their posts in Dover.
But he suggested the port itself had not done enough to handle the increased traffic, which typically jumps from 5,000 to 10,000 vehicles daily during the busy summer.
All French staff were in position at 9:45 am (0845 GMT) instead of 8:30 am, the prefect told reporters in Lille.
“Who would have thought that because the French reinforcements were an hour late that it would derail the whole system?” he added.
“Last year there was Covid. We’re finding out about Brexit” and its impact on peak periods.
“The world has changed. The UK is now a third country to the EU”, which means much more time-consuming checks.
President Zelenskyy rules out a ceasefire without recovering Russia-controlled territories as deadly missile strikes hit central Ukraine on the 150th day of the fighting.
Turkish Defense Minister says, "The Russians told us that they had absolutely nothing to do with this attack and that they were inspecting the issue very closely and in detail."
(Reuters)
Saturday, July 23, 2022
“No setback” at Ukraine’s Odessa port after missile attack
Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar has said that Türkiye continues to fulfill its responsibilities under the grain deal it brokered between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul.
Speaking to Anadolu News Agency, Hulusi Akar said Türkiye has been in contact with both Ukrainian and Russian sides about Saturday's missile attack on Ukraine's Odesa port, adding: "We continue to fulfill our responsibilities in line with the deal we brokered yesterday."
"The fact that such an incident took place right after the agreement we made yesterday really worried us," he added.
Akar noted that Ukrainian officials said "one of the missiles hit one of the (grain) silos, and the other one fell in an area close to the silo, but the important thing is that there is no setback in the loading capacity and capability of the docks, and that the activities can continue."
Turkish National Defence Minister Hulusi Akar says after the missile attack on Ukraine's Odessa port that Türkiye continues to fulfill its responsibilities under the grain deal it brokered between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul pic.twitter.com/utg3vSEzR9
Ukraine hits bridge used for Russian supplies in occupied south
Ukraine struck a bridge in the occupied Black Sea region of Kherson, targeting a Russian supply route as Kiev prepares for a major counter-offensive, a Ukrainian regional official said.
The strike hit the Daryivskyi bridge across the Ingulets river used for supplies by Russian troops, days after a key bridge over the nearby Dnieper was hit, said an adviser to the region's governor who is on Ukrainian-held territory.
"Every bridge is a weak point for logistics and our armed forces are skillfully destroying the enemy system. This is not yet the liberation of Kherson, but a serious preparatory step in that direction," the official, Serhiy Khlan, wrote on Facebook.
'Historic victory of diplomacy': Pakistan hails Türkiye's role in Ukraine grain deal
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed Türkiye for its key role in preventing a looming global food crisis by brokering a deal on Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports.
With the mediation of Türkiye and the UN, Kiev and Moscow signed an agreement in Istanbul on Friday to resume Ukrainian grain shipments from Black Sea ports.
“Ukraine grain deal signed in Istanbul is a historic victory of diplomacy signifying that all crises can be averted through meaningful engagement,” Sharif said on Twitter.
Albania hails Türkiye's role in Ukraine grain deal
Albania’s prime minister hailed Türkiye for brokering the Ukraine grain exports deal.
"This shows once again that the only way to resolve problems between states is through dialogue and diplomacy," said Edi Rama.
UK govt calls Odessa attack 'absolutely appalling'
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss called a Russian attack on the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa "absolutely appalling" and "completely unwarranted".
Truss said the strike, just a day after a deal between Ukraine and Russia to unblock grain exports, showed that Russia's Vladimir Putin could not be trusted.
"We need to urgently work with our international partners to find a better way of getting the grain out of Ukraine that doesn't involve Russia and their broken promises," she added.
Russia finds ways 'not to implement' promises: Zelenskyy
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of routinely violating agreements after Moscow's forces bombed Odessa's port, a facility key to a grain export deal the warring parties signed a day earlier.
"This proves only one thing: no matter what Russia says and promises, it will find ways not to implement it," Zelenskyy said during a meeting with US lawmakers, according to a statement from the presidency.
The Ukrainian military said its air defences had shot down two cruise missiles but two more hit the port, threatening the landmark agreement hammered out over months of negotiations aimed at relieving a global food crisis.
Two Americans die in Ukraine's Donbass war zone
Russian missile strikes on the port in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa caused injuries, the regional governor said, without specifying how many people were hurt.
"Unfortunately, some people are injured. Port infrastructure is damaged," the Odessa regional governor Maksym Marchenko said in a video statement on social media without giving details of the severity of the injuries.
Russia attacked the Odessa sea port with Kalibr cruise missiles as two of the missiles were shot down by air defences, says the representative of the Ukraine's Odessa region. Our correspondent Aksel Zaimovic has more from Kiev pic.twitter.com/h07R9tHpgB
Russian strikes kill three in central Ukraine - governor
Russian missile strikes on railway infrastructure and a military airfield in central Ukraine have left at least three people dead, including a Ukrainian serviceman, a regional governor has said.
"Nine Ukrainian servicemen were injured and one serviceman is dead. First, two guards of an electrical substation were killed," Andriy Raikovych, the head of the Kirovograd region told Ukrainian media.
Raikovych said earlier in a statement on social media that a barrage of 13 sea-launched Russian cruise missiles had struck outside the administrative centre of the region.
Russian missiles strike Ukraine's Odessa port - official
Ukraine says Russian missiles have struck the Odessa port, a key Black Sea terminal, one day after Moscow and Kiev penned a deal to resume grain exports blocked by the conflict.
"The enemy attacked the Odessa sea port with Kalibr cruise missiles. Two of the missiles were shot down by air defences. Two hit port infrastructure," Sergiy Bratchuk, a representative of the Odessa region said in a statement on social media.
UK: Ukraine continues offensive against Russia in Kherson
Heavy fighting has been taking place in the last 48 hours as Ukrainian forces continued their offensive against Russia in Kherson province, west of the Dnipro River, British military intelligence has said.
Russian forces are using artillery fire along the Ingulets River, a tributary of the Dnipro, the UK's Ministry of Defence said. "Supply lines of the Russian forces west of the river are increasingly at risk," the ministry said in an intelligence update.
It added that additional Ukrainian strikes have caused further damage to the key Antonivsky Bridge, though Russia has conducted temporary repairs.
Hungary's Orban calls for new EU strategy on Ukraine
The European Union needs a new strategy on the crisis in Ukraine as sanctions against Moscow have not worked, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said.
The strategy should aim for peace instead of winning, Orban said in a speech in Romania.
Lithuania lifts ban on rail transport into Russian Kaliningrad
The Baltic state of Lithuania has lifted a ban on the rail transport of sanctioned goods into and out of the Russian territory of Kaliningrad, Russia's RIA news agency said.
The European Union last week said the transit ban only affected road, not rail, transit, and Lithuania should therefore allow Russia to ship concrete, wood and alcohol across EU territory to the exclave.
"It is possible that some goods will be transported today," RIA quoted Mantas Dubauskas, spokesman for the state railway company, as telling Lithuanian TV.
Fitch and Scope downgrade Ukraine ratings
Credit rating firms Fitch and Scope downgraded Ukraine to a 'C' grade — just one step from default — two days after the war-ravaged country requested a debt payment freeze.
A "default-like process has begun" Fitch said referring to Kiev's "consent solicitation" request for a two-year deferral on its $20 billion-plus stock of international debt.
"The rating would be downgraded to 'restricted default' and the affected instruments to 'D' following the consent solicitation 'effective date' should it be accepted, which we view as likely," Fitch added.
For live updates from Friday (July 22), click here
