KYIV, 18 August 2022, (TON): Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Washington of drawing out the war in Ukraine, as explosions rocked a Russian military facility on the Kremlin-controlled peninsula of Crimea.

The first UN-chartered vessel laden with grain meanwhile left Ukraine for Africa following a hallmark deal brokered by Turkey and the UN to relieve a global food crisis.

Putin said “the situation in Ukraine shows that the US is trying to prolong this conflict."

He said “Washington is using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder.”