Grain exports from three Ukrainian ports made possible under deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey will halt on November 2 after Moscow pulled out of the deal, Ukraine said on November 1 as Turkey attempted to find a way to get Russia to reverse its decision.
Russia announced it was pulling out of the deal on October 29, accusing Ukraine of misusing the humanitarian shipping corridor set up under the deal for an attack on Russian ships in Crimea. Kyiv has dismissed this as a “false pretext” to withdraw from the deal.
The Turkey and UN-brokered deal is crucial to easing a global food crisis and providing food to people in poor countries in Asia and Africa.
Turkey stepped up diplomatic efforts to salvage it on November 1.
In a phone call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin demanded “real guarantees” from Kyiv that it was “not using the humanitarian corridor for military purposes.”
Putin also said a resumption of the deal could only take place after it received these guarantees and after a “thorough investigation” into an alleged attack on its ships at the Crimean naval port of Sevastopol by drones.
Putin also reminded Erdogan of what he said was a failure to fulfill the second part of the agreement — the unblocking of the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to world markets, a Kremlin statement said.
Erdogan said he was “confident” the issue of grain exports from Ukraine could be resolved, according to the Turkish presidency.
No grain ship movements were planned for November 2, the body overseeing the export deal said.
With millions at risk of starvation unless exports continue, French President Emmanuel Macron denounced Russia’s decision to exit the deal “which again harms global food security” in a call with Zelenskiy on November 1, his office said.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price, meanwhile, accused Russia of deciding to let the developing world go hungry.
Price said the Kremlin’s decision to scuttle the deal shows that “Moscow doesn’t care if the world goes hungry. Moscow doesn’t care if people starve.”
Price said the United States supported efforts by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to restore the agreement and would do whatever “he deems useful.”
Zelenskiy said the corridor needs a long-term means to defend it, and the world must provide a firm response to any Russian attempt to disrupt it.
“Russia must clearly be made aware that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps to disrupt our food exports. At issue here clearly are the lives of tens of millions of people,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address.
Despite Russia’s statements on withdrawing from the grain export agreement, the United Nations, Turkey, and Ukraine continued to implement the deal.
According to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, two days after Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement, 17 ships passed through the humanitarian corridor in both directions, two of them were on their way to Ukrainian ports for loading.
In the three months since the signing of the agreement, 422 ships have exported about 10 million tons of agricultural products, the ministry added.
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