Seven freighters carrying agricultural products left Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Thursday. According to Kyiv’s Ministry of Infrastructure, they carried a total of 290,000 tons of food. Their destinations are countries in Europe and Asia. On Wednesday, Russia reversed grain exports. Now it is again participating in the grain export agreement with Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine agreed to the deal over the summer, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. It allowed Ukraine, despite the war, to export its grain by ship through a protective corridor in the Black Sea. However, after the drone attacks on its Black Sea fleet on Saturday, Russia suspended its participation and said it could no longer provide security guarantees for civilian transport.
(No) guarantees
Wednesday’s balance sheet followed talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In addition, there were written assurances from Ukraine that the humanitarian corridor that had been created and the ports would be used only for the export of food. That’s enough for the moment to fulfill the deal, he said in Moscow.
However, Ukraine on Thursday denied having made any new commitments. At the same time, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson rejected Moscow’s claims that Ukraine had used the security corridor for grain carriers for drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea fleet. (apa)