Ukraine voiced fury but said Monday that it still expected implementation of the deal in the coming days.
“We are preparing for everything to start this week,” Ukraine’s infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, who led Ukraine’s delegation at last week’s grain talks in Istanbul.
Ukrainian officials said the port of Chornomorsk in southwestern Ukraine would be the first to be opened and insisted on the importance of security following the strike on nearby Odessa.
Russia had justified its blockade in part due to mines, which Ukraine said were necessary to prevent an amphibious assault.
Kubrakov said de-mining will take place only in the shipping lanes required for grain exports, while Ukrainian ships will accompany the departing convoys that will transport not only grain but also fertiliser.
After speaking to Kubrakov by phone, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar welcomed Ukraine’s resolve to resume the shipments.
“It is important that the first ship starts sailing as soon as possible,” Akar said in a statement.
KREMLIN’S SHIFTING NARRATIVE
The Kremlin insisted Monday that its strikes in Odessa, which it initially denied to Turkey, “should not affect” the Turkish-brokered push to send the grain to world markets.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow’s cruise missiles hit “exclusively” military infrastructure and were “not connected with the agreement on the export of grain”.
Russia has looked to shift the blame for the food crisis onto Western sanctions. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was visiting Africa where on his first stop, Egypt, he promised that Russia would meet grain orders.
Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhaylo Podolyak slammed the visit as a cynical ploy by Moscow after it had fuelled the food crisis.
“You arranged the artificial hunger and then come to cheer people up,” he said on Twitter, assuring that Ukrainian grain will reach its destinations.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Ned Price voiced hope that grain shipments would come out in the coming days but said the United States was “clear-eyed”.
“Moscow’s track record when it comes to previous deals that it has struck is not exactly a cause for optimism,” Price said.
Russia is pressing on with a grinding push across Ukraine’s southeast, where Kyiv’s forces are being boosted by fresh Western military aid shipments.
The Ukrainian presidency said Monday that a Russian strike trapped seven people under the rubble of a collapsed cultural centre in the northeastern Kharkiv region. Three were pulled out alive and the rescue operation was ongoing.
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