“We expect that the agreement will start to be implemented in the coming days, and we anticipate that a coordination center will be established in Istanbul in the coming days,” said Ukraine’s infrastructure minister.
THE Ukraine expects to repeat the first ones grain exports from the start of the Russian invasion “as early as this week”, after the signing of the Istanbul agreement by Kyiv and Moscow and despite Saturday’s bombing of the port of Odessa by the Russian military.
“We expect that the agreement will start to be implemented in the coming days and we anticipate that a coordination center will be established in Istanbul in the coming days. We are preparing everything to start as early as this week,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said during a press conference.
The Ukrainian minister called on the guarantors of the Istanbul agreement, the UN and Turkey, to guarantee the safety of Ukrainian cargoes.
“If the sides do not guarantee security, it will not work,” he warned.
Exports are hampered by the presence of sea mines, which have been laid by Ukrainian forces to impede amphibious operations by the Russian military. According to the Ukrainian minister, demining will not take place “only in the maritime corridor that will be necessary for exports”.
Ukrainian ships will accompany the phalanxes, which will transport not only grain, but also fertilizers, he clarified.
Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Yury Vaskov explained that the port of Chornomorsk (southwest Ukraine) will be the first from which exports will take place, followed by Odessa and Pivdeni.
“During the next two weeks we will be technically ready to carry out grain exports from Ukrainian ports,” he said.
Ukraine’s grain exports, of which up to 25 million tonnes have been stranded in the country since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, are critical to global food security.
Wheat prices rise as missile strike threatens Ukraine export deal
Wheat prices rose sharply today as a missile strike on the Ukrainian port of Odessa over the weekend cast doubt on whether it is possible to implement last week’s deal and open a corridor for grain exports from the war-torn country.
Russia, Ukraine, the United Nations and Turkey signed an agreement on Friday to reopen three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea for grain exports. The agreement is valid for 120 days and targets monthly exports of 5 million tons.
Chicago CBOT wheat futures rose nearly 4% to $7.86 a bushel today, regaining much of the ground lost on Friday as prices fell nearly 6% after the deal was announced.
Russian strikes in Odessa do not affect grain exports according to Kremlin
The Kremlin said today that a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian port of Odessa would not affect grain exports but stressed that the United Nations must ensure restrictions on Russian exports are lifted for the landmark grain transit agreement to work.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had targeted military infrastructure in a missile strike on Saturday, hours after Kyiv and Moscow made the war’s first diplomatic breakthrough since February in an agreement to resume crucial grain exports. from Ukraine.
“These strikes are exclusively linked to military infrastructure,” Peskov said.
“They are in no way connected to infrastructure used to export grain. This is not expected to affect — and will not affect — the launch of missions.”
The blow in Odessa has raised questions about whether the deal will go ahead or whether all sides will honor the agreements reached in Istanbul.
Ukraine’s grain exports have been frozen since February 24 when Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in what it described as a “special military operation”.
Russia and Ukraine are major grain exporters to the Middle East and Africa. Before February 24, the two countries accounted for nearly a third of global grain exports.
“The United Nations should do its part on the indirect restrictions imposed on Russian grain and fertilizer shipments,” Peskov said today.
“There are no direct (restrictions) but there are indirect ones that do not allow us to fully fulfill these missions, which are of critical importance for international markets and especially for those areas where hunger begins and is particularly felt.” The Kremlin said it was too early to say whether the deal would be successful until the mechanisms outlined in the deal were put into place.
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