I want to go to
Ukraine now, where in the past
few hours,
the army has declared that new gains
around the embattled city of back Mort.
Military spokesman says
Ukrainian units are advancing
despite a shortfall in ammunition
and personnel.
One brigade says it has carried out
offensive actions
on the western outskirts of that city.
Russia's Wagner
mercenary fighters say
they are also making progress
inside the city itself.
Well, elsewhere,
at least one person
was killed in a missile
strike in the southern port
city of Odessa.
It came amid
a large wave of strikes overnight
and in Crimea.
A freight train has derailed as a result
of what Russian backed
authorities are calling
a, quote,
intervention of unauthorized persons.
Let's get more on
that from our Sam
Kiley, who's in southeastern Ukraine.
Certainly plenty of developments
to talk about.
Sam, let's start with that derailment.
What else are you learning
Well, this
was a
rail link
between the two main cities
in the Crimean Peninsula.
This, of course, was invaded by Russia
back in 2014 and later illegally annexed.
It has been
the scene of Special Forces operations,
psychological operations, obviously, and
perhaps part design attacks
in support of Ukraine.
Now, this mysterious derailment
has been described as a tongue in cheek,
really description
from the Ukrainian authorities
as a consequence
of poor maintenance
or other such remarks.
This is consistent with them
being somewhat coy
and mocking in terms of
when there are strikes
by their special forces
or drones
or other mechanisms
deep behind Russian lines.
Or indeed inside
Russia itself,
they don't admit responsibility.
But clearly this was attacked
in some way.
The railway as
resulted in the derailment.
Carriages have come off the line.
This is an important logistics chain.
Part of the logistics chain
supporting the Russian war effort
further forward on the front lines.
So could be seen
perhaps as part of the ongoing
softening up operations by Ukraine.
Ahead of a wider
offensive sometime later in the summer
because the ground war
continues in paramount in particular,
where the advance is being claimed
by both sides.
The Ukrainians
claiming advances
on the flanks of this city
involved a mercenary group
making claims
about small advances
in their house to house
fighting in the city itself.
No great strategic change there at all
as the Russians
continue their campaign in the air
of essentially trying
to get the Ukrainians
to spend as much of their air defenses
as they have got ahead of this
ground offensive,
when the Russians will obviously
want to try
to use their aviation
to best effect inside
Ukrainian territory.
At the moment,
they don't risk that aircraft coming
close to the front lines
because of the capabilities
now that the Ukrainians
have in terms of their ability
to shoot down both missiles
and of course, ultimately aircraft.
Linda.
And Sam,
we saw another barrage
of missiles overnight,
thankfully, most intercepted,
but Russia claims
it has hit
Ukrainian military infrastructure.
Is there any truth to that?
Probably or possibly.
The fact of the matter
is that the reporting restrictions here
mean that we're not able to report
when there have been strikes by Russia
on military installations,
because that gives intelligence,
valuable intelligence
back to the Russians
in terms of their targeting.
There is sometimes some delay allowed
between the attack
and when we can report it.
But at other occasions, the Ukrainians
simply do not admit to any
strikes against their military targets
being conducted
outside of the frontline areas by Russia.
But clearly,
they do occasionally get through.
We've seen that with some
very spectacular explosions,
clearly important logistic nodes
or even ammunition
dumps over the last year of the war.
And the Russians have made this claim.
They've got no supporting
evidence for it.
We know that the Ukrainians
are saying
that only one missile out of 30
got through to its target
and there was some debris
that killed one person
in the southern port city of Odessa.
That may well be
the so-called success
that the Russians are claiming there.
Linda, interesting perspective.
Sam Kiley for us,
good to have you there on the ground
for us. Thank you so much.
Well, live wheat prices fell early
after Ukraine and Russia
agreed to extend a deal
that allows grain
to be exported from Ukraine.
Imports in the Black Sea.
The agreement is critical
to the world's food supply.
And it was brokered by Turkey
and the United Nations last year.
Moscow says the extension
will last at least two months,
saying that period is decisive
when it comes to the deal's future.
The US says that while it supports
the agreement, Moscow should in no way
be using hunger as a weapon.
We strongly support the U.N.
and Turkey's efforts on the deal,
which keeps global food
and grain prices low.
But as
Secretary Blinken has previously said,
we should not need to remind Moscow
every few weeks
to keep their promises
and to stop using people's hunger
as a weapon in their war against Ukraine.
Well, Becky Anderson, who is, of course,
a regular host of Connect
the World,
visited a ship carrying Ukrainian
wheat for export.
She has more
now on why the grain
deal matters so much.
An unassuming looking
port in Istanbul
with global significance.
It's from here
that inspection teams
from Russia, Ukraine, the U.N.
and Turkey deploy to vessels anchored
offshore
The ship that will be boarding
is anchored in the Marmara Sea.
It left a mosque port in Ukraine on May
the 12th, carrying about 26,000
tons of wheat.
And it is one of the last vessels
to transit
under the current terms of the Black Sea.
Grain deal.
But this vessel is actually quite low.
So we're quite lucky
because I might have had to actually
climb up the side of this boat.
But as things stand,
it's an easy it's easy access on fire.
These inspectors are looking for
any unauthorized cargo or crew.
Captain, we're
going to conduct the inspection
and we're going to start
with the documentation
on this mission.
Here.
Mohammed
is the captain of the Pacific Rose.
So these are the passports, high school.
And the crew is ready for a check face
Also on the checklist,
the shipment itself, in this case over
26,000 tons of wheat
to get here.
Mohammed and his crew
had to navigate through what is very much
a live conflict zone.
While this is safe, eye contact
with control,
journalists control
and do this to control this area. Got it.
Everything is safe.
A contact
for our foreign secretary
in the corridor of the I.S.
one is to see it, to establish
what it did to stumble, everything
it took since the beginning of this deal.
Some 1800 ships have done this route
and been inspected
that some 30 million tons of foodstuffs
feeding more than 150 million people
and perhaps as importantly,
bringing the price of food globally
down by some 20%
The work of these
inspectors now goes on after Turkey's
president announced
an extension of the deal,
meaning for at least another two months
the world can breathe a sigh of relief.
Becky Anderson, Morrissey, CNN.