Black Sea Grain Initiative to be extended until 18 July – Ukraine's Minister of Infrastructure

Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative has been unblocked and will continue to operate until 18 July.

Source: Kubrakov on Facebook

Quote: "The world will continue to receive Ukrainian products thanks to the efforts of our partners in the agreement: Türkiye and the UN. We are grateful to our partners for their unwavering and determined position that the agreement should work in the future and on terms that were signed by all parties. I note that the Grain Initiative has been and is valid since it was prolonged in March for a period of 120 days, until 18 July," the minister wrote.

Details: According to him, today, 30.4 million tonnes of agricultural products have already been sent to meet the world’s needs.

Kubrakov recalled that from mid-April, Russia had unreasonably begun to limit the work of the initiative, and from May, it actually blocked it, refusing to register new ships and conduct inspections of the fleet that goes to load into Ukrainian ports.

"Almost 70 vessels are now waiting in the territorial waters of Türkiye, 90% are those which are ready to deliver the products of our farmers to the world.

We welcome the continuation of the Initiative, but emphasise that it should work effectively. To do this, it is necessary to eliminate the problems that Russia has been creating for several months in a row by sabotaging inspections and the registration of a new fleet. We hope that our partners will make every effort to ensure that the grain agreement begins to work for the food security of the world and that Russia will eventually stop using food as a weapon and blackmail," he stressed.

Before that, Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said that the validity of the agreement had been extended for another two months, reports Anadolu.

At the same time, the Türkiye’s president did not specify whether the extension of the Grain Initiative implies the changes that Russia had previously insisted on, in particular the unblocking of part of the sanctions.

According to Anadolu, Erdoğan "thanked the Russian side for its willingness not to create obstacles" for the exit of Türkiye’s ships from the ports of Mykolaiv and Olbia.

Background: 

Bloomberg, citing Türkiye’s officials, reported that the Grain Initiative, which allows Ukraine to export crops from three key ports across the Black Sea, would be extended.

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