Ukraine Sees Threat of "Grain Agreement" Disruption by Russia, Deputy Prime Minister Heading to Türkiye for Talks

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov is to visit Türkiye on Tuesday at the invitation of Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar to discuss the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

As the Ministry of Defence of Türkiye reported on Monday, Kubrakov's visit to Türkiye is taking place given the statement of the Ministry of Community Development, Territories and Infrastructure of Ukraine that Russia has blocked the "grain agreement."

Since April 10, the russian side in the Joint Coordination Center (SCC) in Istanbul has unilaterally stopped registering vessels that Ukrainian ports submit to form an inspection plan. Meanwhile, the russians form their own inspection plan by choosing the vessels from the queue at their discretion.

"As a result, for the second time in 9 months of operation of the Grain Initiative, an inspection plan has not been drawn up, and not a single vessel has been inspected. This threatens the functioning of the Grain Initiative," the Ministry points out.

The Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine called on the partners – the UN and Türkiye, the deal guarantors, to "ensure that all parties in the JCC comply with the procedures that have worked for 9 months."

On March 18, the government of Ukraine announced the extension of the grain initiative for 120 days (Ukr). At the same time, the Russian Federation then announced the extension of the "grain agreement" for only 60 days (Ukr) and threatened a complete break if its ultimatum demands were not met.