UAE welcomes extension of Russia-ukraine grain accord
ABU DHABI: The UAE welcomed the extension of the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs from Ukrainian Ports agreement for an additional two months, expressing its appreciation for the efforts made by the Republic of Türkiye and the United Nations in this regard.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MOFAIC) noted in a statement that this extension represents a positive step that will contribute to alleviating food shortages and enhancing global food security.
The Ministry stated that the UAE expresses its appreciation to both the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Ukraine for their response to these efforts.
The Ministry also underscored its hope that these endeavours will contribute to the establishment of peace between the two countries, stressing the importance of converging views to promote regional and international stability and peace.
The Kremlin on Thursday confirmed that Russia had renewed the Black Sea grain deal for two months ater achieving some results in talks which had given it “certain hopes,” but said more progress had to be made to advance its own interests.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan announced the extension in a televised speech on Wednesday and it was later confirmed by Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations.
The United Nations and Turkey brokered the agreement — which allows Ukraine to export grain from Black Sea ports - for an initial 120 days in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis that has been aggravated by Russia’s war in Ukraine, something it calls “a special military operation.”
Commenting on the deal’s renewal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said what he called a “qualified result” for Russia had been achieved in negotiations over easing restrictions on Russian agricultural exports.
In a call with reporters, he said that different scenarios were being worked out regarding easing international payment transfer curbs on Russia’s state agricultural bank, one of Moscow’s key demands.
“Regarding guarantees for Rosselkhozbank — various options are being explored that would be equivalent to reversing its exclusion from the SWIFT payment system,” he said.
“There are certain hopes based on the negotiations that have taken place so far.”
Rosselkhozbank on Thursday said the grain deal had nothing to do with a jump in its firstquarter profit as the bank practically does not conduct international setlements currently due to the SWIFT block.
Peskov indicated that Moscow wanted to see more progress in the next two months.
“It is very important to understand that the fate of the deal is still in the hands of those with whom the UN must agree on the Russian part of the deal,” said Peskov.
“A certain part of the way has been travelled — there are results — but not definitive ones. We will try to solve this problem definitively within these 60 days.”
He added that talks on the export of ammonia from a Russian city to a Ukrainian port via a pipeline were ongoing.
The deal has been extended for two more months, in what UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres hailed on Wednesday as “good news for the world,” a day before Russia could have quit the pact over obstacles to its grain and fertiliser exports.
“This was announced yesterday, but so far these statements have not led to the resumption of work and the joint centre in Istanbul did not inspect vessels for entry yesterday or today,” Yuriy Vaskov, Ukraine’s deputy restoration minister said.
“We expected it to be yesterday immediately ater the statements of our partners. We are expecting the partners’ position today and believe that they will be able to resolve this issue,” he told in an interview.
He said 62 vessels are ready for inspection and some of them have been standing by for several months.
Meanwhile, Russia fired 30 cruise missiles againstdifferentpartsofukraineearlyonthursday.
One person was killed and two were wounded by a Russian missile that got through and struck an industrial building in the southern region of Odesa, according to Serhiy Bratchuk, a spokesperson for the region’s military administration.
Russian forces used strategic bombers from the Caspian region and apparently fired X-101 and X-55-type missiles developed during Soviet times, Kyiv authorities said.
Amid the recently intensified Russian air assaults, China said its special envoy met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during talks in Kyiv earlier this week with Ukraine’s chief diplomat.
Beijing’s peace proposal has so far yielded no apparent breakthrough in the war.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that the warring parties needed to “accumulate mutual trust” for progress to be made.
Ukrainian officials sought during the talks to recruit China’s support for Kyiv’s own peace plan, according to Ukraine’s presidential office.