The Grain Corridor, which has been extended four times, expires today. If the agreement is not extended, grain supplies from Ukraine will be jeopardized.
A grain agreement that has been ensuring the safe transportation of Russian-occupied Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea since last year will expire today unless Russia agrees to extend it.
The agreement was mediated by the United Nations (UN) and Türkiye to tackle the global food crisis that intensified after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The last ship carrying grain under the agreement left Ukraine yesterday. Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February last year and blockaded the country’s Black Sea ports. As a result, global grain prices rose sharply.
Russia and Ukraine are among the world’s biggest grain exporters. Ukraine has exported about 33 million tons of corn, wheat and other grain products since the agreement came into force.
Russia had threatened to withdraw from the agreement on the grounds that its demands to export its own grain and fertilizer products had not been met, and reacted by saying that poor countries were not getting enough grain.