Ukrainian and Russian military delegations reached a tentative deal last week on a UN plan that would allow Ukraine to export 22 million tons of grain and other agricultural products stuck in Black Sea ports because of the war. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan planned to attend a signing ceremony in Istanbul. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov were the expected signatories, according to their governments. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Ukraine and Russia would sign separate agreements. “Ukraine is not signing any document with Russia,” Podolyak tweeted, adding that his country would sign an agreement with Turkey and the UN, with Russia signing a separate “mirror agreement.” Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russia’s invasion of the country and its naval blockade of its ports have halted shipments. Some grain is transported through Europe by rail, road and river, but prices of vital commodities such as wheat and barley have soared during the nearly five-month war. The agreement provides for the safe passage of ships. It calls for the creation of a control center in Istanbul, staffed by Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian UN officials, to direct and coordinate the process, Turkish officials said. Ships will undergo inspections to ensure they are not carrying weapons. Podolyak insisted that no Russian ships would escort vessels and that there would be no Russian representative present in Ukrainian ports. Ukraine is also planning an immediate military response “in case of provocations,” he said. Guterres first raised the critical need to return Ukraine’s agricultural production and Russia’s grain and fertilizer to world markets in late April during meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv. He proposed a deal in early June amid fears that the war jeopardized food supplies for many developing countries and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people. Russian and Ukrainian officials blame each other for the blocked grain shipments. Moscow accused Ukraine of failing to remove sea mines in ports to allow safe shipping and insisted on its right to screen incoming ships for weapons. Ukraine argued that the Russian port blockade and missile launch from the Black Sea made any missions unsustainable. Ukraine has asked for international guarantees that the Kremlin will not use the safe corridors to attack the Black Sea port of Odessa. Ukrainian authorities have also accused Russia of stealing grain from eastern Ukraine and deliberately bombing Ukrainian fields to set them on fire. On Thursday night, a spokesman for Ukraine’s foreign ministry appeared to lay out Kiev’s terms for supporting the plan. The Ukrainian delegation “will support only those decisions that will guarantee the security of the southern regions of Ukraine, the strong position of the Ukrainian armed forces in the Black Sea and the safe export of Ukrainian agricultural products to world markets,” said representative Oleh. Nikolenko, he told reporters. In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US welcomed the deal in principle. “But what we are focused on now is holding Russia accountable for implementing this agreement and for enabling Ukrainian grain to enter world markets. It’s been a long time since Russia put that blockade in place,” Price said.
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