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image source, EPA
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during the signing of the agreements.
Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements in Istanbul, Turkey’s capital, on Friday to allow Ukraine to resume grain exports.
The ceremony was attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, as well as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also present.
The agreement is considered a diplomatic victory in the middle of a bloody war that has just turned six months old.
It will allow Ukraine to export some 20 million tons of grain whose export has been blocked by Russia since the beginning of the war.
“Today, there is a lighthouse in the Black Sea,” Guterres said. “A beacon of hope, a beacon of possibility, a beacon of relief in a world that needs it more than ever.”
They have overcome obstacles and set aside the differences to pave the way for an initiative that will serve the common interests of all.
For his part, the Turkish president said he was proud of his mediating role in an initiative that “will play an important role in solving the world food crisis.”
Shortly before the news, Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak clarified that Ukraine would not sign a direct agreement with Russiabut both parties would sign “mirror” agreements.
He added that any “provocation” by Russia on the implementation of the agreement will provoke a “military response”.
image source, EPA
Sighs of relief and quiet optimism
Analysis by Imogen Foulkes, Geneva
The United Nations aid agencies will breathe a big sigh of relief following the news of the agreement to unblock Ukraine’s ports.
The World Food Program (WFP) the buy grains a Ukraine for countries whose populations suffer from famine.
Last year, Ukrainian cereals fed 400 million people.
The WFP has had to cut rations for Sudan and Niger, and has warned that the world “faces a hunger crisis of catastrophic proportions“if the Black Sea ports are not unblocked.
The International Committee of the Red Cross says that rising food, fuel and fertilizer prices linked to the war in Ukraine have combined with successive droughts and conflicts in the Horn of Africa and threaten an “irreversible humanitarian crisis”. at an unimaginable human cost.
New grain supplies, more generous aid deliveries and lower food prices might save many lives.
Today, UN officials are quietly optimistic; they see the port deal as a kind of mini-ceasefire that might even lead to broader agreements.
But first the deal must work and getting the necessary cargo ships to the Black Sea might take several weeks.
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