Ukraine, Russia to Seal Grain Deal in Turkey Tomorrow

Ukraine and Russia will sign a deal, on Friday, that aims to allow the grain to start flowing across the Black Sea, the Turkish Presidency announced.

"The signing ceremony of the grain shipment agreement, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be present, will be held (Friday) with the participation of Ukraine and Russia," the Turkish leader's office said.

Last week, Russia’s Defence Ministry affirmed that a “final document” designed to unblock grain exports from Ukrainian ports will be ready “soon”.

“Soon the work on creating a final document on the ‘Black Sea initiative’ will be completed,” the Defence Ministry’s spokesman, Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov, revealed on state television.

Konashenkov pointed out that the proposals were designed to “ensure the transportation of food to foreign states, including to Russian partners”. He also said Moscow wanted to prevent the shipping routes to be used for “the supply of weapons and military equipment” to Kyiv.

On his part, Guterres called the direct negotiations a “ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world”.

The Istanbul talks followed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s phone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about the Ukrainian crisis.

“The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria, the situation in Ukraine in the light of Russia’s military operations, the establishment of safe corridors for exporting grain by the Black Sea,” Erdoğan’s office said.

Erdoğan stressed that “it is high time to take action to implement the UN plan for the establishment of corridors to export grain,” and called for a “lasting and fair” settlement of the Ukrainian crisis by peaceful means, at the negotiating table