UN: the Grain Agreement is suspended due to the actions of the Russian Federation

As Reuters reports, representatives of the United Nations emphasized that the grain agreement was suspended, despite the agreement of the Russian Federation to extend it. Currently, according to the UN, no ship has been allowed to visit the Port of "South" since April 29. Currently, the United Nations and Turkey are working with other parties to restore full operation and remove all obstacles that limit the grain agreement.

It is known that Ukraine managed to export almost 45 million tons of grain. In fact, for the current marketing year (from July 1, 2022 to May 26, 2023), Ukraine managed to export 44.796 million tons of legumes and grain crops. During the last marketing year, Ukraine was able to export 46.784 million tons of grain. According to data as of May 26, 2.91 million tons of grain were exported from Ukraine in just one month.

In turn, Ukraine has already accused the Russian Federation of effectively excluding the Pivdenniy port from the agreement, as Russia complained that it could not export ammonia through the pipeline to Pivdenniy in accordance with the agreement. In this regard, the UN said that the current agreement also provides for the export of fertilizers, including ammonia, but so far there has been no such export.

"If ammonia does not go through the Southern port, there are other ports that are still working with our assistance to export Ukrainian grain. If Rossilhospbank is not connected to SWIFT and there is no progress in the implementation of other systemic problems blocking our agricultural export, then the Black Sea initiative will also have to look for alternatives," the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in this regard.

It should be noted that the losses incurred by Ukraine due to the idleness of ships in the queues of the grain corridor amounted to more than $1 billion. This was stated by the president of the Ukrainian Grain Association (UZA) Mykola Gorbachev on the air of "Freedom".

"This is the money that Ukrainian agricultural producers did not receive. This is the money that the traders paid to the owners of the ships for the fact that the ships stood in the queue for a very long time," he was quoted as saying by a number of mass media.

In addition, according to the expert's estimates, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Russian Federation has already stolen about 4 million tons of Ukrainian grain and is trying to sell it abroad. The main buyers are countries under sanctions. But it is becoming more and more difficult to trade in stolen goods from Russia. Russia is also luring buyers of Ukrainian agricultural products. As an example, Egypt was given, where the aggressor country increased its positions.

“Buyers who buy this grain want a rhythmic supply. The fact is that when wheat is bought, it is bought for a mill that already has a customer - the one who will bake bread from it. And if we do not know when this vessel will arrive - in 20 or 40 days, the buyer chooses a more rhythmic and reliable supplier," Mykola Gorbachev explained.

In this regard, we would like to remind you that 952 ships left the ports of Great Odesa since the beginning of the grain agreement. According to Volodymyr Frolov, Director of the Department of Economic Policy and Strategic Planning of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, they exported 30.3 million tons of agricultural products to the countries of Asia, Europe and Africa. Currently, 120 vessels are awaiting inspection in the territorial waters of Turkey: 98 entering ports for loading, 22 with agricultural products for exit.