During the shelling of Ukrainian territory, Russian troops damaged an ammonia pipeline in the Kupyansky district, said Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration (OVA).
“As a result of enemy strikes, the pipeline was depressurized. A headquarters for liquidation of consequences has been deployed in the region. All relevant services are on site. We will announce all the details later."
On November 17, 2022, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held secret talks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). As Reuters reported, the reason for the meeting was the discussion of the launch of an ammonia pipeline from Tolyatti to Odessa, which before the war carried more than half of Russian ammonia exports. Since February 24, the ammonia pipeline has not been working. Agency sources at the time were unable to clarify whether any progress had been made.
Ammonia supplies through the pipeline could also be resumed as part of the “grain deal” that Russia, Turkey, the UN and Ukraine renegotiated on November 17, but by that time the parties could not agree on the conditions for resuming the operation of the ammonia pipeline and the supply of fertilizers, although initially the Russian side hoped that they can be included in the deal.
Built in 1981, the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline (2,417 km) comes from the Togliattiazot enterprise (ToAZ, controlled by Uralchem since November 2021). The maximum capacity of the pipe is up to 2.5 million tons per year. Part of the pipeline passes through Ukrainian territory, its final destination is the Odessa port plant, where gas was loaded onto ships and exported. 400,000 tons of demand was previously provided by the Ukrainian concern Stirol, which was stopped since 2014, where a side branch located in Gorlovka led, on the territory of the “DPR” that “nationalized” it.