Days after ending its backing for grain exports over the Black Sea, Russia and Turkey have reached an agreement for Russia to resume its involvement in the deal.
On Saturday, Russia charged Ukraine with attacking its navy in Crimea while utilizing a safety corridor for grain shipments.
However, even after Russia stopped supporting the agreement, the UN, Turkey, and Ukraine kept deploying ships.
According to the Russian defense ministry, Kiev has since pledged in writing not to utilize the corridor for military operations.
Despite Russia’s decision to stop supporting the contract, three additional ships departed Ukrainian ports on Tuesday, according to the UN-led organization in charge of organizing the Black Sea grain export pact.
According to the center, Ukraine, Turkey, and the UN have all approved the passage of the ships, and Russia “had been notified.”
12 ships leaving Ukraine on Monday carried 354,500 tonnes of food.
Russia stopped supporting the agreement on Saturday, blaming Ukraine for attacking its navy via a safety corridor.
According to the UN, there were no ships within the hallway that evening.
The incident took place in Crimea, a peninsula in the southern part of Ukraine that Russia annexed in 2014.
Volodymyr Zelensky, the president of Ukraine, has accused Russia of “blackmailing the globe with starvation,” which Russia rejects.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told his Turkish colleague over the phone that he would only think about restarting the grain agreement when the Crimea incident probe was over.
The UN, Turkey, and Ukraine have all agreed that there would be no ship movement on Wednesday.
According to a spokesman for Odesa’s military administration, who was quoted by Reuters, Monday’s containers represented a record daily number of exports since the grain agreement got underway.
According to the government, Ethiopia, where “the actual risk of widespread hunger” existed, received one of the ships carrying 40,000 tonnes of grain.
Following its invasion of Ukraine in February, Russia’s navy established a blockade on its Black Sea ports, holding over 20 million tonnes of grain intended for sale as well as other staples like maize and sunflower oil within the nation.
But in July, Turkey and the UN helped broker a compromise between Ukraine and Russia that allowed grain deliveries via Black Sea ports to resume.
However, on Monday, President Putin announced the arrangement was being put on hold, blaming Kyiv for the “massive” drone attack on its navy in the port of Sevastopol.
He claimed that in order to undertake grain exports, marine safety must be guaranteed and that doing so would be too dangerous.
Mr. Putin said in a televised address that “Ukraine must ensure that there will be no danger to civilian boats.”
Kiev has refused to claim credit for the strike, claiming Moscow had long planned to renege on the accord that had been mediated internationally and used the attack as justification for doing so.
Such a contract is scarcely realistic and becomes a new character that is considerably more risky, dangerous, and unguaranteed when Russia talks about how it is impossible to ensure the safety of shipping in certain areas, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
The US has denounced Russia’s departure from the agreement, accusing Moscow of “weaponizing food.”
Josep Borrell, the head of foreign affairs for the EU, has pleaded with Russia to change its mind, arguing that jeopardizing the shipment of grains and fertilizers would worsen the world food crisis.
Russian ambassador to the US rejects claims that his nation is worsening the world food crisis, claiming that such charges are unjust.
The halt comes as Russia, which had earlier claimed that its evacuations of the seized Kherson area had ended, now claims to have increased them.