After Russia warned that any further extension beyond mid-May would rely on the lifting of some Western sanctions, a deal allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea was extended on Saturday for at least 60 days, or half the intended time.
The United Nations and Turkey mediated the agreement with Russia and Ukraine in July, and in November it was extended for an additional 120 days. The objective was to combat a worldwide food crisis that was exacerbated in part by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and its blockade of the Black Sea.
The agreement was supposed to end on Saturday.
On Saturday, the United Nations and Turkey announced that the agreement had been extended, though they did not say for how long. According to Ukraine, a 120-day extension was made. However, Russia’s assistance is required, and Moscow only consented to extend the agreement for 60 days.
In a statement, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the Memorandum of Understanding on promoting Russian food products and fertilizers to global markets are crucial for ensuring global food security, particularly for developing nations.
Russia and Ukraine are significant international producers of agricultural products, and Russia is a major exporter of fertilizer.
Mykola Solsky, Ukraine’s minister of agriculture, asserted on Saturday that his country had provided nearly 500,000 tonnes of wheat for UN relief efforts and maintained that the 120-day extension of the Black Sea export agreement provided a chance to continue providing aid to those in need and “save the world from hunger.”
A three-year agreement was also reached in July, in which the UN agreed to assist Russia with its exports of food and fertilizer in an effort to persuade Russia to enable Ukraine to resume its Black Sea grain exports.
