The signing ceremony at Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul was attended by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey’s president, who had played a key role during months of tense negotiations. Guterres said in remarks at the ceremony that the agreement would pave the way for significant volumes of food exports from Ukraine and ease a parallel food and financial crisis in the developing world. He said “a beacon of hope has shone in the Black Sea” and called on Russia and Ukraine to fully implement the agreement. It is hoped the deal will ensure the passage of grain and essential goods such as sunflower oil from three Ukrainian ports, including Odesa, even as war continues to rage elsewhere in the country. The UN had warned that the war risked mass malnutrition, hunger and starvation. The agreement also aims to ensure the safe passage of Russian fertilizer products, essential to ensure future high crop yields, amid efforts to ease the global food crisis triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. UN officials said they hoped preliminary shipments could begin on Saturday, with the hope of reaching pre-war levels of exports from the three Ukrainian ports – at a rate of 5 million metric tons of grain a month – within weeks. According to UN officials, under the agreement reached between Kyiv and Moscow:
A coalition of Turks, Ukrainians and UN personnel will monitor the loading of grain onto ships in Ukrainian ports before navigating a pre-planned route through the Black Sea, which remains heavily mined by Ukrainian and Russian forces. Ukrainian pilot boats will guide commercial vessels carrying the grain to navigate the mined areas around the coastline using a map of safe channels provided by the Ukrainian side. The ships will then cross the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait while being closely monitored by a joint coordination center in Istanbul, which will include representatives from the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey. Ships entering Ukraine will be inspected under the supervision of the same joint coordination center to ensure they are not carrying weapons or items that could be used to attack the Ukrainian side. The Russian and Ukrainian sides have agreed to rule out attacks on any of the commercial vessels or ports participating in the vital grain initiative, while UN and Turkish observers will be present at Ukrainian ports to demarcate areas protected by the agreement.
Guterres said such an agreement between two warring countries was “unprecedented” and would “bring relief to developing countries on the brink of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the brink of starvation. “And it will help stabilize world food prices, which were already at record levels even before the war – a real nightmare for developing countries,” he added. “Specifically, the initiative we just signed paves the way for significant volumes of commercial food exports from three key Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea – Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny. Sending grain and food stocks to world markets will help bridge the global food supply gap and reduce pressure on high prices.” The agreement is the product of months of ongoing and difficult negotiations between UN officials, including Guterres, and top Russian and Ukrainian officials, who first raised the issue in April. Grain map of Ukraine US officials had accused the Russian government of effectively “food rigging” by holding Ukrainian grain hostage in order to lessen the impact of sanctions on Russian exports. However, the US and the EU have assured both companies transporting Russian agricultural products that they are not violating sanctions before signing the deal. Before the deal was announced on Friday, Kyiv said it had ruled out an immediate deal with Moscow. “Ukraine is not signing any document with Russia. We will sign an agreement with Turkey and the UN,” presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak tweeted. He said Russia would sign a separate “mirror” deal. Senior UN officials said before the deal was signed that demining Ukraine’s coastline was not considered a viable option. Ukrainian officials had expressed concerns that removing defensive mines from their coastline would increase their vulnerability to Russian attacks. However, the agreement contains provisions for a possible minesweeper operation by an agreed party to check that the sea route for ships remains safe, as well as a possible search and rescue vessel in the Black Sea. UN officials stressed that the deal to prevent attacks only included specific areas in Ukraine’s ports covered by the grain deal. They added that they had worked with the shipping industry and insurers to ensure that the commercial cost of insuring grain shipments did not become punitive, thereby increasing the cost of grain in the international market. Details were finalized after Erdogan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in Tehran earlier this week, officials in Ankara said. Turkey has authority over maritime traffic entering and leaving the Black Sea. İbrahim Kalin, Erdogan’s spokesman, said the deal would be “crucial for global grain security.” Ukraine is the world’s fifth-largest wheat exporter, but exports have ground to a halt since the start of the war, with some 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos in Odesa near the front line. On Thursday night, the Turkish president’s office said a general agreement on a UN-led plan had been reached during talks in Istanbul last week and would now be put in writing by the parties. The US State Department said late Thursday that it welcomed the deal “in principle” and was focused on holding Russia accountable for its implementation. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy briefly mentioned the potential deal in his final national address on Thursday night, saying: “Tomorrow we expect news about our state from Turkey – about the unblocking of our ports.” Earlier on Thursday, Ukraine’s deputy agriculture minister, Taras Vysotskiy, said the country could quickly restart exports. “The majority of [Odesa port] The infrastructure … remains, so it’s a matter of several weeks in case there are proper security guarantees,” he told Ukrainian TV. Moscow has denied responsibility for the worsening food crisis, blaming instead Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertilizer exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports. Vladimir Putin essentially called the deal “always in favor” earlier this week, saying that Russia would “facilitate the export of Ukrainian grain, but we proceed from the fact that all restrictions related to … the export of Russian grain will be removed. “ While Russian grain exports have not been sanctioned by the US, some shipping companies have avoided carrying Russian goods because of the financial and reputational risks. “As you know, the Americans have lifted – virtually lifted – restrictions on the supply of Russian fertilizers to world markets,” Putin said. “If they sincerely want to improve the situation in international food markets, I hope the same will happen with the supply of Russian grain for export.”
