The United Nations on Sunday awaited a response from Russia on renewing an agreement that allows Ukraine to export its grain amid a wartime blockade, a necessity to help keep the food prices around the world.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, is one of the very few areas of cooperation between Ukraine and Russia since the full-scale invasion began. The agreement was first reached a year ago, allowing Ukraine to resume exports of millions of tons of grain that had stalled for months.
But Russia has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the deal, which has only been briefly renewed. The last day of the latest extension is Monday.
In an effort to answer one of Russia’s main demands before this final deadline, United Nations secretary general António Guterres, sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin last week with proposals to “remove obstacles affecting financial transactions” through the country’s agricultural bank, “and at the same time allow the continued flow of Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea,” according to a UN statement.
Two days later, Mr. Putin called the deal a “one-sided game,” again threatening to scrap it because of what he considered unmet conditions, Tass, Russia’s state news agency reported. “We may suspend our participation in this agreement. And if everyone repeats that all the promises given to us will be fulfilled — let them fulfill these promises. And we will immediately join this agreement. Again,” he said, according to Tass.
The invasion prompted the United States and European countries to tighten sanctions on Russia, effectively making it a pariah state. Some analysts have argued that Moscow is trying to use the grain deal as leverage to soften these sanctions.
Russia complained that while the agreement allowed Ukraine’s food exports to reach markets, Western sanctions restricted the sale of Russian agricultural products, and called for steps to facilitate its own exports of grain and fertilizers. Other Kremlin demands included the restoration of an ammonia pipeline crossing Ukraine to facilitate exports, but Ukraine refused to grant permission.
The agreement was initially made to alleviate a global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s effective blockade of Ukrainian ports at the start of its invasion. Ukraine is a major exporter of grain and other food crops, and global wheat prices have risen.
Since the Black Sea Grain Initiative began, Ukraine has used it to export 32.8 million tons of grain and other food, according to UN data, and the agreement has prevented hunger crises in several countries in Middle East and Africa worsened.
Under the agreement, Ukrainian corn and wheat are leading exports, with 90 percent of corn and 60 percent of wheat sent to high- or middle-income countries. The volumes sent to low-income countries are about the same as before the invasion, according to UN data.
But the volume of grain exported from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea has been slowing in recent weeks, according to UN data. The same thing happened a few weeks before the deal’s previous expiration date, in May.
Under the terms of the agreement, Ukrainian ships were given safe passage to the port in Istanbul, where they were inspected by inspectors. Empty ships were also inspected in Istanbul en route to Ukrainian ports to verify that they were not carrying weapons or other goods prohibited under the treaty.
Here’s what else is happening in the war:
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Speaking on Russian state TV, Mr. Putin said in clips released on Sunday that Ukraine’s counteroffensive had “not succeeded,” and that Russian forces were holding the entire front line, even though they had carried out their own attacks in some areas. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said late Friday that Russian forces are throwing “everything they can” at Kyiv troops fighting to regain land in the south and east, again underscoring the desperate nature of the monthly counter-offensive.
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In clips from the interview on state TV, which aired Sunday night in Russia, Mr. Putin also said the recent decision by the United States to send cluster munitions to Ukraine showed the extent of the ammunition shortages. facing Kyiv, added that Russia could retaliate. if these weapons are deployed on the battlefield. Mr. Putin falsely claimed that Russia had not used cluster munitions in Ukraine despite dozens of cases documented by the United Nations, mostly in the early months of the war.
The Russian president’s comments, released by the Kremlin on Sunday, raised the prospect of a wider deployment of cluster munitions in the conflict, which would threaten to cover the battlefield with unexploded ordnance in for many years, causing great danger to the civilian population.
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Britain’s defense secretary Ben Wallace told The Sunday Times of London that he will step down from his post, likely in the coming months, after four years in the role. Britain has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since the start of the Russian invasion. Mr. Wallace said last week that Ukraine should show more gratitude for Britain’s military support, adding “We are not Amazons,” comments that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has distanced himself from.