Ukraine, Russia sign deal to reopen grain export ports as war rages on

• Russia and Ukraine sign historic agreement to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports. Agreement aims to restore Ukrainian grain exports while easing Russian grain and fertiliser shipments.
• Fighting in Ukraine’s east continues unabated, and representatives from both countries refused to sit at same table at signing ceremony.
• Ukraine, Russia and Turkey have signed an agreement that allows grain exports to resume. The ships would transit the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus strait before proceeding to global markets.

ISTANBUL/KYIV, July 22 (Reuters) – Turkey’s parliamentary elections are set for July 22. On Friday, Russia and Ukraine signed a historic agreement to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion can be alleviated.

The agreement capped two months of talks between the United Nations and Turkey aimed at achieving what U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres referred to as a “package” that would restore Ukrainian grain exports while easing Russian grain and fertiliser shipments despite tough Western sanctions on Moscow.

According to Guterres, the agreement allows for significant volumes of commercial food exports from three key Ukrainian ports: Odesa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny, and the United Nations will establish a coordination centre to monitor implementation of the agreement.

“On the Black Sea today, there is a beacon. A beacon of hope…, possibility…, and relief in a world that desperately needs it, “Guterres told the audience.

However, fighting in Ukraine’s east continued unabated, and to highlight the deep enmity and mistrust that is fueling Europe’s worst conflict since World War II, Russian and Ukrainian representatives refused to sit at the same table at the ceremony, and the display of the two countries’ flags was adjusted so that they were no longer next to one another.

“In the event of provocation, (there will be) an immediate military response,” Ukraine said. Before the ceremony, Kyiv presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted.

Russia and Ukraine, two of the world’s top food exporters, sent their respective defence and infrastructure ministers to Istanbul for the signing ceremony, which was also attended by Guterres and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

A Russian Black Sea fleet blockade of Ukrainian ports, trapping tens of millions of tonnes of grain in silos and stranding many ships, has exacerbated global supply chain bottlenecks and, together with sweeping Western sanctions, fueled galloping inflation in food and energy prices around the world.

Moscow has denied responsibility for the escalating food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing its own food and fertiliser exports and Ukraine for mining its Black Sea ports.

Senior United Nations officials told reporters on Friday that the agreement would be fully operational in a few weeks.

Safe passage into and out of the ports would be guaranteed in what one official referred to as a “de facto ceasefire” for the ships and facilities covered, they said, despite the fact that the word “ceasefire” was not included in the agreement text.

Despite the fact that Ukraine has mined nearby offshore areas as part of its defences against Russia’s five-month-old invasion, Ukrainian pilots said they would guide ships along safe channels in its territorial waters.

The ships would then transit the Black Sea to Turkey’s Bosphorus strait before proceeding to global markets, according to United Nations officials.

The offer will be valid for 120 days but will be renewable and is not expected to be terminated anytime soon.

“I think it’s unprecedented that two parties at war – and still very much at war – have been able to negotiate an agreement of this kind,” one U.N. official said.

The Russian-flagged cargo ship Zhibek Zholy can be seen off the coast of Karasu, a Black Sea port.
Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey sign a United Nations agreement that allows grain exports to resume.

Cargo ships are docked in Odessa’s Black Sea port.

1/20 On July 22, 2022, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar attend a signing ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey. Umit Bektas/Reuters

Another said a separate agreement signed on Friday would facilitate Russian food and fertiliser exports, and that the UN welcomed clarifications from the United States and the European Union that their sanctions would not apply to such shipments.

To address Russian concerns about ships smuggling weapons to Ukraine, all returning ships will be inspected by representatives from all parties and overseen by the JCC at a Turkish port.

The overall goal is to help tens of millions of people in poorer countries avoid famine by injecting more wheat, sunflower oil, fertiliser, and other products into global markets, including for humanitarian purposes, at lower prices.

The US welcomed the agreement and stated that it would focus on holding Russia accountable for its implementation.

Turkey, a NATO member with good relations with both Russia and Ukraine, controls the Black Sea straits and has acted as a mediator in the grain dispute.

CHANGING THE TIDE ON THE BATTLEFIELD?
On Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met with senior commanders and stated that Kyiv’s forces, which are increasingly armed with precision, longer-range Western weaponry, have the potential to turn the tide on the battlefield.

A senior US defence official said on Friday that the US believes Russia’s military is suffering hundreds of casualties per day, totaling thousands of officers up to general rank.

According to the official, Washington believes Ukraine has destroyed more than 100 “high-value” Russian targets in Ukraine, including command posts, ammunition depots, and air defence sites.

Since Russian forces seized the last two Ukrainian-held cities in eastern Luhansk province in late June and early July, there have been no major breakthroughs on the front lines.

Russian forces are now concentrating their efforts on capturing the entire neighbouring Donetsk province on behalf of separatist proxies who have declared two breakaway mini-states covering the larger industrialised Donbas region.

According to a morning update from Ukraine’s general staff, Russian forces backed by heavy artillery continued to try to advance toward the cities of Kramatorsk and Bakhmut, as well as the Vuhlehirska thermal power plant in Donetsk, but made no significant progress.

Kyiv hopes that its steadily increasing supply of Western arms, such as the United States’ High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), will allow it to counter-attack and reclaim lost eastern and southern territories.

Russia’s defence ministry announced on Friday that its forces destroyed four HIMARS systems between July 5 and July 20. Kyiv denied the claims, calling them “false” and intended to undermine Western support for Ukraine. Reuters was unable to confirm the claims. more info

Russia claims to be conducting a “special military operation” to demilitarise its neighbour and remove dangerous nationalists.

According to Kiev and the West, Russia is waging an imperialist campaign to retake a pro-Western neighbour that broke free from Moscow’s control when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991.