Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Vice Prime Minister for the Reconstruction of Ukraine and the Minister of Community, Territories and Infrastructure Development, confirmed the extension of the "grain agreement". It will be valid at least until July 18.
This was reported by the press service of the department.
"The world will continue to receive Ukrainian products thanks to the efforts of our partners in the agreement - Turkey and the UN. We are grateful to the partners for their unwavering and purposeful position that the agreement should continue to work and on the terms signed by all parties. I would like to note that the Grain Initiative was and is effective, as it was extended in March for a period of 120 days, until July 18," the message said.
Kubrakov reminded that Ukraine has already shipped 30.4 million tons of agricultural products from its ports.
He reminded that since mid-April of this year, Russia began to obstruct the agreement, and since May it has blocked it altogether. Russians refused to conduct inspections of the fleet that was supposed to load in Ukrainian ports. Therefore, almost 70 ships are currently waiting in the territorial waters of Turkey, 90% of which are those that want to load Ukrainian grain.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Earlier, the Bloomberg publication also stated that Russia has agreed to remain in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, but has not announced it yet.
Earlier, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a meeting in Istanbul that the Black Sea Grain Initiative can be extended for another two months.
Without an extension, the agreement was set to expire tomorrow, May 18.
The grain agreement was concluded in July 2022 between the UN and Turkey regarding the export of Ukrainian grain. Its purpose was to overcome the food crisis caused by Russia's war against Ukraine.
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