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Russia inks deals for Sarmat ICBMs, S-500 air defense systems

Smoke rises over the site of explosion at an ammunition storage of Russian army near the village of Mayskoye, Crimea, Aug 16, 2022. Explosions and fires ripped through the ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea on Tuesday in the second suspected Ukrainian attack on the peninsula in just over a week. (PHOTO / AP)

MOSCOW/KYIV – Russia's defense ministry on Tuesday signed contracts on the delivery of Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missiles and S-500 air defense systems for Russian troops.

The contract on the production and delivery of the ICBMs was signed by Deputy Defense Minister Alexei Krivoruchko and CEO of the Makeyev State Rocket Center Vladimir Degtyar at the Army 2022 international military-technical forum, according to the TASS news agency.

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The deal for the supply of the latest S-500 air defense system was signed by Krivoruchko and Almaz-Antey Deputy CEO Vitaly Neskorodov at the forum, the report added.

In June, President Vladimir Putin said the country's first Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile system would enter combat duty by the end of the year. 

Zelensky to meet Guterres, Erdogan

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will meet UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week, said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Guterres would meet Zelenskiy in Lviv in western Ukraine and discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, along with finding a political solution to the conflict with Russia.

Guterres is due to visit a seaport in Ukraine's southern city of Odesa on Friday.

On July 22, Ukraine signed a deal with Türkiye and the United Nations in Istanbul to resume food and fertilizer shipments from Ukrainian ports to international markets via the Black Sea. Russia signed the same agreement.

READ MORE: Guterres: Don't endanger safety of Zaporizhzhia power plant

Since the deal came into force on Aug 1, total 563,317 tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs have been shipped from Ukraine to several countries as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.  

German, Swedish weapons in Crimea fight

Germany and Sweden do not object to using their weapons by Ukraine to regain control over Crimea, the Ukrainian government-run Ukrinform news agency reported Tuesday citing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

In this May 1, 2022 file pohoto, a Russian serviceman guards in an area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in territory under Russian military control, southeastern Ukraine. (PHOTO / AP)

Scholz said at a joint press conference with Andersson in Stockholm that Ukraine has the right to use weapons it receives from Western partners "to protect its territorial integrity".

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For her part, Andersson said that providing weapons to Ukraine is a historic decision made by the two countries.

Crimea was incorporated into Russia in March 2014 following a local referendum recognized by Moscow. Ukraine says the peninsula was annexed. 

With inputs from Reuters