First grain ship departs Odesa under UN safe passage deal
From CNN's Victoria Butenko, Olga Voitovych and Ipek Yezdani
The Razoni, the first grain ship to leave the Ukrainian port of Odesa under the UN-brokered deal, leaves port on August 1. (Alexander Kubrakov/Facebook)
The first grain ship to leave the Ukrainian port of Odesa under a UN-brokered deal to ensure safe passage through the Black Sea departed on Monday morning, according to Ukrainian and Turkish officials.
“The first [Ukrainian] grain ship since #RussianAggression has left port,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted, thanking Turkey and the UN for helping implement the deal.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, carrying more than 26,000 metric tons of corn, is also shown to be moving on satellite vessel tracker MarineTraffic.
The ministry said other ships will also be dispatched in line with the deal signed in Istanbul on July 22, but did not provide further details.
Grain deal: A total of 5 million metric tons of grain is expected to leave Ukraine each month under theagreement, helping to ease the global food crisis sparked by Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports.
The ships will navigate through a safe corridor in the Black Sea and pass through the Bosporus Strait to reach global markets.
3:12 a.m. ET, August 1, 2022
Grain tycoon killed in Mykolaiv shelling as Putin threatens "lightning speed" response to interference
From CNN's Ivana Kottasová, Olga Voitovych, Darya Tarasova, Manveena Suri, Kareem Khadder, Josh Pennington and Nic Robertson
Grain tycoon Oleksiy Vadaturskyy was killed in the attack on Mykolaiv, Ukraine, on July 31. (Facebook)
A Ukrainian grain mogul and his wife were killed after the southern city of Mykolaiv came under intense shelling on Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials, as Russian President Vladimir Putin used his nation's Navy Day to issue more militaristic threats to anyone undermining Russia's "sovereignty and freedom."
Grain tycoon Oleksiy Vadaturskyy and his wife, Raisa, died in the attack, according to a statement from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vadaturskyy was the founder of Mykolaiv-based Nibulon, one of Ukraine's largest grain producing and export companies.
"This is a great loss for Mykolaiv region and all of Ukraine," Zelensky said. "For more than 50 years of his career, Oleksiy Vadaturskyy made an invaluable contribution to the development of the region and the development of the agricultural and shipbuilding industries of our country."
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said cluster munitions blew out windows and destroyed balconies. "Mykolaiv was under mass shelling today. Probably the strongest one of all time," he said in a statement.
A CNN team on the ground heard the explosions caused by the strikes and saw fires that broke out in the shelling. Residents interviewed by CNN also said it was the heaviest shelling in the city since the start of the war.
At least one person was killed and two injured in the attack, according to Vitalii Kim, head of Mykolaiv regional military administration.
A firefighter works to douse a fire in a building in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, in this handout picture released on July 31. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Mykolaiv Region/Reuters)
"Lightning speed": In a speech commemorating Russia's Navy Day in St. Petersburg, Putin did not make any mention of Russia's war in Ukraine, but said his country's "current situation is demanding very decisive actions."
"We will provide protection firmly and by all means. The key here is the capabilities of the Navy, which is able to respond with lightning speed to anyone who decides to encroach on our sovereignty and freedom," Putin said.
Putin said delivery of the country's Zircon hypersonic cruise missile systems would begin in the coming months. Russia said in May that it successfully tested the Zircon missile over a distance of 1,000 kilometers (621 miles).
Russian missiles hit Odesa, Ukrainian official says
From CNN's Mariya Knight in Atlanta
Russian missile strikes hit a quarry in Odesa on Sunday, according to a Ukrainian official.
In a social media post, Serhii Bratchuk, spokesman for the Odesa regional administration, said the Russians fired two Iskander missiles from occupied Crimea.
Rescue services were working to extinguish fires as a result of the strikes and "information on the victims is being clarified," Bratchuk said.
8:38 p.m. ET, July 31, 2022
Ukrainian intelligence says Russian troops have retreated from parts of Zaporizhzhia
From CNN's Mariya Knight
Russian troops have retreated from parts of the Zaporizhzhia region in southeastern Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian intelligence report on Sunday.
The Russians moved personnel and equipment from near the villages of Verkhnii Tokmak and Chernihivka following Ukrainian strikes on the area on Friday night, the report said.
About 40 wounded were taken to hospital in the city of Polohy, it added.
According to the report, "almost complete units" were withdrawn from Chernihivka and there are "several checkpoints and no more than 100 military personnel" left near that settlement.
Russian forces laid mines on access roads as they retreated, the Ukrainian report added.
