Ukraine and Russia are preparing to sign in Istanbul on Friday a UN-brokered agreement brokered by Turkey allowing the resumption of the export of Ukrainian and Russian grain and food commodities.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are scheduled to participate in the signing ceremony, which will take place in the historic Dolmabahce Palace.

President Erdoğan said that he will bring good news to the whole world with the signing of the Grain Corridor Agreement in Istanbul today with the participation of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, representatives of Ukraine and Russia.

According to the agreement, the export of Ukrainian grain will resume from three ports in the Odessa region in southern Ukraine bordering the Black Sea (Odessa, Chornomoresk and Yuzhny).

The Kremlin said the agreement on grain was important to Russia because of the impending food crisis, and that it was necessary to open supply routes to world markets.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu arrived in Istanbul today to participate in the signing of the agreement on the transportation of grain in the Black Sea.

For his part, Mikhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the Ukrainian president, said that his country will not sign a grain transfer agreement with the Russians, but rather the two countries will sign parallel agreements with the United Nations.

He added that the grain agreement does not provide for a Russian escort of tanker ships, and that there are no Russian observers in the agreement.

Agreement details

The agreement provides for the establishment of a joint coordination and command center based in Istanbul to oversee the conduct of operations and resolve disputes, and the two warring parties and officials from Turkey and the United Nations will participate in the headquarters.

UN officials believe it will take 3-4 weeks to establish the center, meaning that grain shipments may not start flowing at full speed before the second half of August.

Ukraine does not want Russia to board its ships to check that there are no arms shipments when the ships return to its ports.

Instead, the four parties will supervise the inspection of ships in a Turkish port upon their return to Ukraine, most likely in Istanbul.

It is not yet known exactly who will be allowed to board the Ukrainian ships.

two human lanes

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced the opening of two humanitarian corridors for the movement of ships towards the Black Sea, the Sea of ​​Azov and Donetsk in southern and eastern Ukraine.

The ministry said in a statement, that the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea will allow ships to cross daily from 8 am to 7 pm Moscow time to leave the ports of Kherson, Nikolaev, Chernomorsk, Uchakov, Odessa and Yuzhny in the southwest direction.

The ministry added that the Azov Sea Corridor will operate around the clock, and ships moored in the port of Mariupol can leave through it towards the Black Sea, Russia Today channel reported.

In turn, US State Department spokesman Ned Price welcomed the expected agreement today on the export of grain from Ukraine.

Price praised what he described as the "tireless work" of the United Nations Secretary-General and Turkey to reach the agreement, and stressed that Washington will continue to hold Russia accountable for its implementation.


global crisis

The war in Ukraine disrupted global supplies of food, fuel, and fertilizer.

This has exacerbated the tragic situation of millions of people across the African continent, and complicated the work of the relief agencies struggling to help them.

Ukraine and Russia are among the world's largest food exporters, and Ukraine's ports, including the main port of Odessa, are subject to a blockade imposed by Russia's Black Sea Fleet.

About 20 million tons of grain is stuck in silos in Odessa, where dozens of ships have been stranded by Moscow's attack, which it describes as a "special military operation".

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization's Food Price Index, which measures the change in international prices for a basket of basic food commodities, reached an all-time high in February 2022 and jumped to a new record in the following March.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, this rise in the index is due to the significant increase in the prices of cereals and vegetable oils due to the impact of the war in Ukraine on supply chains.

The United Nations believes that reopening Ukrainian ports could help avert famine in parts of the world.