The UN reported a decrease in food exports from Ukrainian ports

The UN recorded a decrease in Ukrainian food exports from the Black Sea ports against the backdrop of “complicating dynamics” in the Joint Coordination Center. This was announced by Deputy Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths at a meeting of the Security Council of the world organization.

“Over the past month, we have, unfortunately, seen a decrease in the volume of exports coming from Ukrainian ports, due to the increasingly complex dynamics at the Joint Focal Point and the corresponding slowdown in operations,” – leads his words TASS.

At the same time, there is still no export of Russian ammonia fertilizers under the grain deal, Griffiths stressed. Over the entire period of the grain initiative, more than 30 million tons of food were exported from Ukrainian ports, he added.

The grain deal was concluded in July 2022 by representatives of Turkey and the UN, on the one hand, and representatives of Russia and Ukraine, on the other. Separate agreements were concluded with Moscow and Kiev: the first was for the export of Ukrainian grain from three ports, including Odessa, Yuzhny and Chernomorsk, and the second was for assistance in the export of Russian grain and fertilizers. Moscow has repeatedly noted that the second part of the deal is not being implemented.

On April 13, the Russian Foreign Ministry formulated five conditions for extending Moscow’s participation in the agreement: reconnection of Rosselkhozbank to the SWIFT settlement system; the resumption of deliveries to Russia of agricultural machinery, spare parts and service, which fell under Western sanctions; abolition of restrictions on insurance and reinsurance of Russian ships with grain and removal of the ban on their access to ports.

The conditions for the extension of the deal are also the restoration of the operation of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and the unblocking of foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies associated with the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.

On May 11, the Turkish Defense Ministry reported that negotiations between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN would continue at a technical level in the near future. The ministry noted that the two-day negotiations on the grain deal were constructive and useful. In turn, Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Vershinin said that the grain deal will cease to exist if there is no consensus on the implementation of Russian requirements, in particular, on the export of ammonia fertilizers.