UN optimistic of grain deal renewal
A United Nations official says the UN is ‘‘cautiously optimistic’’ a wartime deal that has enabled Ukraine to export over 11 million tonnes of wheat and Russia to ship its grain and fertiliser to world markets will be renewed.
The official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, said yesterday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed an extension of the deal with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia this week and considered the meeting ‘‘very positive.’’
The deal, which established a Black Sea shipping corridor and an inspection process, was approved on July 22 through separate agreements with Russia and Ukraine. It is set to expire on Sunday.
Guterres has said the deal was critical in addressing a global food crisis following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and warned of shortages and skyrocketing prices if it isn’t extended.
Russia’s UN ambassadors had complained last month that more needed to be done to facilitate its exports of grain and fertilisers.
Under the separate agreements brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal will be extended for another 120 days unless either Moscow or Kyiv objects.
Meanwhile, Nato member Poland and the head of the military alliance both said yesterday that a missile strike in Polish farmland that killed two people appeared to be unintentional and was probably launched by air defences in neighbouring Ukraine.
Russia had been bombarding Ukraine at the time in an attack that savaged its power grid.
‘‘Ukraine’s defence was launching their missiles in various directions, and it is highly probable that one of these missiles unfortunately fell on Polish territory,’’ said Polish President Andrzej Duda.
‘‘There is nothing, absolutely nothing, to suggest that it was an intentional attack on Poland.’’
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, at a meeting of the 30-nation military alliance in Brussels, echoed the preliminary Polish findings.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, however, disputed them and asked for further investigation.
The assessments of Wednesday’s deadly missile landing appeared to dial back the likelihood of the strike triggering another major escalation in the nearly nine-month-old Russian invasion of Ukraine. If Russia had targeted Poland, that could have risked drawing Nato into the conflict.
Still, Stoltenberg and others laid overall but not specific blame on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war.
‘‘This is not Ukraine’s fault. Russia bears ultimate responsibility,’’ Stoltenberg said.
Zelenskyy told reporters he had ‘‘no doubts’’ about a report he received from his top commanders ‘‘that it wasn’t our missile or our missile strike.’’