MOSCOW, 16 August — RIA Novosti. The failure of the initiative to suspend hostilities in the Black Sea threatens Ukraine with the loss of the Odessa region, Cypriot journalist Alex Christoforou expressed this opinion on his YouTube channel.
“If Russia effectively destroys all existing sea and land connections, then soon the entire Odessa region will be completely blocked. No one will be able to get into Odessa. This may lead in the future to the loss (of the region. — Ed.), if Ukraine does not solve the problem of the blockade,” he said.
According to the expert, the economy of the southern regions of Ukraine may be almost completely paralysed.
On Friday, official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova, commenting on Turkey’s proposal to stop hostilities in the Black Sea, stated that Moscow sees no grounds for half-measures that would give Kyiv a breathing space.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Turkey is talking about the need to agree on the safety of navigation in the Black Sea, but it was not Russia that started these attacks.
This week, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that Ankara had submitted to Moscow and Kyiv a proposal to declare a moratorium on military actions in the Black Sea.
