Explosions damaged a portion of the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline in the Kupiansk district of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, according to June 5 news reports. Ukraine authorities said Russian missiles were responsible, claiming no ammonia leak occurred and no injuries were reported. Russia blamed Ukrainian saboteurs, however, and said a number of civilians were injured.
Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, posted on social media that the pipeline had been “depressurized as a result of enemy strikes,” but later said there was “no threat of dangerous substances” spreading over the Kupiansk district based on reports from emergency response teams deployed to the region.
The Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline is the world’s longest, stretching approximately 1,534 miles from Russia’s Togliatti on the Volga River to three Black Sea ports. Russia used the pipeline to transport ammonia for export, but it has been shut since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia reportedly transported two million mt of ammonia through the pipeline in 2020.
Syniehubov said Russian shelling hit the pipeline near the villages of Masyutovka and Zapadne. Moscow disputed that account, however, stating on June 7 that a Ukrainian “sabotage” group had blown up the pipeline, according to a report in the Moscow Times.
“A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyutovka in the northeastern Kharkiv region on Monday evening, the Russian Defense Ministry said, adding that civilians had been injured. Footage posted on social media appeared to show white smoke or vapor coming out of the pipeline.
Russia has sought a resumption of ammonia exports through the pipeline and has made that one of several conditions in negotiations to extend the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain initiative, which allows safe passage of Ukrainian grain shipments to help alleviate food shortages caused by the war.
The grain deal was renewed for two months in May and is set for renewal again on July 17, but the pipeline explosion may complicate the deal, Bloomberg reported on June 8. The pipeline is “integral” to Russia’s involvement in the deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to Interfax. “This complicates things in terms of continuing the deal,” Peskov said.
Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine was “the only country that has never been interested in resuscitating the pipeline,” the Moscow Times reported. Zakharova accused Kyiv of “dealing a blow to UN efforts to combat world hunger,” and said it would take up to three months to repair the pipeline if crews could access the site.
Should Russia exit the grain deal, the pace of Ukraine’s exports would be considerably slowed, Bloomberg reported. Ukraine would only be able to ship via rail, road, and smaller river ports, which presents additional challenges after some of its European neighbors banned purchases of the country’s grain until mid-September.
Ukraine has said it will consider reopening the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline if Russia agrees to a comprehensive prisoner swap. In the meantime, a new export port facility being built by Togliattiazot JSC in Taman, opposite Crimea, is slated to begin operations this year and is intended to replace the pipeline.
The incident at the pipeline occurred less than 48 hours after the Kakhovka Dam on the Dnipro River was destroyed, flooding nearby areas and threatening the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russia and Ukraine also blamed each other for the dam’s breach.