Ukraine is setting up a temporary shipping route to maintain grain shipments after Russia quit a deal allowing Ukrainian exports via a UN-backed safe sea corridor, Kyiv said in an official letter on Wednesday.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s Black Sea Odesa port for the second consecutive night on Tuesday after quitting the deal on Monday, which included Moscow revoking guarantees for safe navigation.

Ukraine said it had “decided to establish on a temporary basis a recommended maritime route”, in a letter submitted to UN shipping agency the International Shipping Organization.

“Its goal is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the north-western part of the Black Sea,” Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine’s acting minister for communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in the letter.

Ukraine added that the additional traffic route it was establishing would lead to the territorial waters and exclusive maritime economic zone of Romania, which is one of the neighbouring Black Sea countries.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said the Black Sea grain deal could continue without Russian participation, and Ukraine is working on options to keep its commitments on food supplies.

Exit causes insurance troubles

Since Russia’s move to exit the deal, insurers have been reviewing their appetite to cover ships into Ukraine.

A cargo insurance facility that provided cover for shipments via the previous corridor deal has been suspended, the policy’s broker said on Tuesday.

Additional war risk insurance premiums, which are charged when entering the Black Sea area, need to be renewed every seven days.

They already cost thousands of dollars and are expected to go up, while shipowners could prove reluctant to allow their vessels to enter a war zone without Russia’s agreement.

There is also the risk of floating mines.

Kyiv says overnight strikes damaged grain infrastructure

Ukraine has accused Russia of damaging grain export infrastructure in “hellish” overnight strikes focused on two of its Black Sea ports.

“Russian terrorists absolutely deliberately targeted the infrastructure of the grain deal,” Mr Zelenskyy said on Telegram, vowing not to be intimidated.

Ukraine’s prosecutor-general’s office said 10 civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, were wounded.

Grain terminals were damaged, as well as an industrial facility, warehouses, shopping malls, residential and administrative buildings and cars.

UK’s MI6 boss invites Russians to spy for Britain

The head of Britain’s MI6 foreign spy service said on Wednesday that last month’s mutiny by Russian mercenaries showed there were “deep fractures” surrounding the Kremlin, and invited Russians appalled by the war in Ukraine to come spy for Britain.

In just his second public speech since becoming chief of the Secret Intelligence Service in 2020, Richard Moore said there appeared to be little prospect of Russia regaining momentum in Ukraine.

Speaking at the British embassy in Prague, Mr Moore likened the situation in Ukraine to the Prague Spring in 1968 when Soviet tanks quashed liberalising reforms.

“As they witness the venality, infighting and callous incompetence of their leaders … many Russians are wrestling with the same dilemmas as their predecessors did in 1968,” he said.

“I invite them to do what others have done this past 18 months and join hands with us.

In his speech and in a subsequent interview, Mr Moore said last month’s armed mutiny by Wagner mercenary group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin had exposed the “inexorable decay” of Mr Putin’s “unstable autocracy”.

Reuters