Ukraine is considering the option that the Black Sea Grain Initiative will end on May 18, as previous negotiations on its extension were unsuccessful, and there will be no new ones this week.
This is reported by Reuters with reference to the words of the ambassador on special assignments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Olha Trofimtseva.
According to her, Ukraine received conflicting signals regarding the future of the "grain agreement" during the negotiations in Turkey.
Russia threatens to withdraw from the agreement on May 18 if its demands are not met, namely: permission to export Russian grain and fertilizers and reconnection of Rossilkhozbank to SWIFT.
Trofimtseva noted that Russiaʼs withdrawal from the agreement would mean an escalation of the situation primarily for the Russian side, and this would negatively affect their further negotiating position.
- On May 8, Russia once again blocked the registration and inspection of ships bound for Ukrainian ports. In this way, it made the operation of the "grain agreement" impossible. At that time, 90 ships were waiting for inspection in the territorial waters of Turkey, of which 62 are ships that are going to be loaded.
- Prior to that, technical negotiations regarding the continuation of the "grain agreement" were held in Turkey, which were unsuccessful — the parties (Ukraine, Turkey, the UN and Russia) did not reach an agreement on the issue of the admission of new ships to transport grain from Ukraine.
- On April 26, Russia once again blocked the operation of the Black Sea "grain corridor", despite the fact that on March 13, 2023, after negotiations with UN representatives, the Russian side agreed to extend the "grain agreement", but only for 60 days. Then the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov informed that such a position of Russia contradicts the agreement, because it can be extended by at least 120 days. Then Turkey, the UN and Ukraine announced that the agreement had been extended for exactly 120 days.