Crew members of the cargo ship Med Island, which came from Ukraine loaded with grain, prepare the ship for inspection by U.N. officials, while it is anchored in the Marmara Sea in Istanbul, Turkey in Oct. 2022. Kyiv is seeking to extend the unprecedented wartime deal that allows the grain to flow from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia where hunger is a growing threat, a top Ukrainian official said on Thursday after the talks on prolonging the agreement concluded in Turkey. Khalil Hamra/Associated Press file
ISTANBUL, Turkey — The Ukrainian government is seeking to extend a wartime deal that allowed the country’s grain to get to nations in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia where hunger is a growing threat, a top Ukrainian official said Thursday after the latest talks on prolonging the agreement.
The two talks in Istanbul involved Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian, and United Nations officials but yielded no decisions for an extension. The deal is due to expire next Wednesday.
Additional discussions are expected in an online format, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said. He said in a statement released after the talks that the grain deal “should be extended for a longer period and expanded.”
“This will give predictability and confidence to both the global and the Ukrainian markets,” Kubrakov said. Previous extensions lasted 120 days and 60 days.
However, Russia opposes both broadening the agreement and its “indefinite expansion,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin said after the talks. Moscow is considering proposals made by U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and “the work, the contacts continue,” Vershinin said.
If there is no consensus by May 18, the deal “will cease to exist,” the Russian diplomat said.
Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil, and other affordable food products that developing nations depend on. In July 2022, Moscow and Kyiv signed an agreement with the United Nations and Turkey that outlined a process for shipments from three of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to resume amid Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.
It has since been renewed twice, most recently in March. According to the U.N., the agreement establishing a safe shipping corridor from the Ukrainian ports to Turkey has allowed over 30 million metric tons of grain and foodstuffs to leave the country.
Russia has repeatedly complained that a separate agreement with the U.N. to overcome obstacles to shipments of its fertilizers that was part of the July package has not produced results.
According to a U.N. statement, proposals discussed at the Thursday meeting included “the resumption of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline, the longer extension of the deal, improvements at the Joint Coordination Centre for stable operations and exports.”
Vershinin reiterated Thursday that Moscow “first and foremost” is defending “Russia’s national interests, its agriculture producers, producers of fertilizers.”
“An initiative that brings unilateral benefits can hardly be recognized and confirmed by all,” he said.
The Turkish Defense Ministry said in a statement after the talks that the sides displayed “constructive approaches.”
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