An accident occurred at the ammonia pipeline in the Kupyansky district of the Kharkiv region, Russian military correspondents publish a video, and the video also appeared on the Telegram channel of the first “deputy minister” of information of the “DPR” Daniil Bezsonov. On the eve of the head of the regional military administration (OVA) of the Kharkiv region, Oleg Sinegubov, reported that the Russian Armed Forces fired at the ammonia pipeline for the second time in two days and depressurization occurred.
According to Sinegubov, six “arrivals” were recorded in the area of the pumping station near the village of Masyutovka.
At the same time, the propaganda RIA Novosti reported , citing a Russian serviceman, that the Ukrainian servicemen damaged the ammonia pipeline. The state agency also claims that there are two cases of ammonia poisoning and one death among the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, this information has not been officially confirmed. The publication says that the servicemen were ordered to stay in positions in masks and gas masks.
The Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline, built in 1981, runs in this area. The ammonia pipeline with a length of 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 thousand tons of demand was previously provided by the Ukrainian concern Stirol, which was stopped in 2014. There was a side branch located in Gorlovka, on the territory of the “DPR” that “nationalized” it.
Earlier, Reuters found out that on November 17, 2022, Russian and Ukrainian delegations held secret talks in the United Arab Emirates to discuss the launch of an ammonia pipeline from Togliatti to Odessa. Before the war, more than half of Russian ammonia exports went through it, but since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, on February 24, 2022, the ammonia pipeline has not worked. Sources of the agency then could not clarify whether it was possible to achieve any progress in the negotiations.
Ammonia supplies through the pipeline could also be resumed under the grain deal, which 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. Initially, the Russian side hoped that this condition could be included in the deal.