The agreement allowing the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea will expire on May 18 and Ukraine cannot guarantee that it will continue when no further talks are scheduled for this week, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official said on Monday. . Olha Trofimtseva, the ministry’s ambassador-extraordinary, told a briefing that kyiv had received mixed signals about the future of the deal, the extension of which was discussed in talks in Turkey last week.
Moscow threatens to abandon the deal
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports were blocked last year after the Russian invasion, but three of them were allowed access last July under an agreement between Moscow and Kiev, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
Moscow has threatened to abandon the deal on May 18 unless a list of demands to remove obstacles to Russian grain and fertilizer exports is met. “Such a termination, an exit (of Russia) from the grain initiative is possible, but for everyone and especially for the Russian side, it will mean an escalation of the situation and complicate its future negotiating position,” says the Ukrainian representative.
Ukraine, he said, exported 2.5 million tons of agricultural products in April, despite a slowdown in the use of the grain corridor.
Source: BFM TV
