Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow will rejoin the grain export deal brokered by the UN and Turkey with Ukraine, but reserves the right to withdraw if necessary. “We have demanded assurances and guarantees from the Ukrainian side that something like this will not happen again, that the humanitarian corridors will not be used militarily,” Putin said at a video meeting with his coordination council on Wednesday.
They were welcomed by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Moscow’s humiliating about-face and hailed “a significant diplomatic outcome for our country and the world at large.” “The implementation of the grain export initiative continues,” he said in his speech on Wednesday evening. “The Kremlin demands security guarantees from Ukraine. This shows both the failure of Russian aggression and how strong we are if we remain united.”
The United States also welcomed the restoration of the deal and urged Russia to renew it later this month. State Department spokesman Ned Price praised the UN-Turkey mediators but said it was important that the deal “is not only restarted but renewed later this month”. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken thanked Turkey for its efforts and stressed, reminding Moscow of the “importance of continued compliance with UN-brokered agreements and its commitments in support of global food security,” it said in a statement.
A large convoy of ships transported a record amount of grain despite warnings from Russia that it would be unsafe without its involvement. The Russian Defense Ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea Grain Corridor for military operations against Russia.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said grain exports from Ukraine would continue with or without Russian approval and appears to have mediated Russian descent. Zelenskyy thanked Erdoğan for his role in restoring the deal.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region have continued a campaign to urge residents to evacuate. Residents who had collaborated with the occupying forces left the country and some departing medical workers took equipment from hospitals, according to a statement released by the Ukrainian military on Wednesday evening. Residents of the town of Nova Zburivka in the Kherson region were given three days to leave and were told that the evacuation would be mandatory from November 5.
Moscow said it would summon the British Ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnert on her unfounded accusation that “British specialists” were involved in the Sevastopol attack.
The UN Security Council has overwhelmingly rejected Russia’s attempt to set up a commission to investigate their unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine and the United States are conducting “military biological” activities in violation of the convention prohibiting the use of biological weapons.
Details of the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline have been released by explosions at the end of September. Nord Stream AG said about 250 meters (820 feet) of the pipeline was “destroyed” in the Baltic Sea.
Two Russian oligarchs and business partners of Roman Abramovich have been placed on the UK government’s sanctions list. Alexander Abramov and Alexander Frolov, who the British government said were “known business partners” of the former Chelsea FC owner, were among four new Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons added to the sanctions list on Wednesday.