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Ukraine, Russia sign grain export deal
The plan, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, allows Ukrainian ports to restart grain exports. A monthslong Russian blockade has pushed prices higher and threatened global food shortages.
Kyiv and Moscow signed a deal on Friday to free up Ukrainian grain exports that have been blocked since February.
The proposal marks the first major agreement between the two warring sides and has boosted hopes that a worsening food security crisis can now be eased.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov signed separate but identical "mirror" deals with Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
"Today, there is a beacon on the Black Sea,'' Guterres said. "A beacon of hope, a beacon of possibility, a beacon of relief in a world that needs it more than ever."
Full details of the plan, which Turkey and United Nations chief Guterres have been working on for months, were not immediately released.
The agreement will "bring relief for developing countries on the edge of bankruptcy and the most vulnerable people on the edge of famine," UN chief Guterres said.
Ukrainian presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, wrote on Twitter on Friday that Ukraine would not sign a deal directly with Russia, but that the two would sign "mirror agreements" with Turkey and the UN.
The United States has cautiously welcomed the deal.
Since the conflict began, up to 25 million tons of wheat and other grain have been held up by Russian warships in Ukrainian ports.
Russia has denied responsibility for worsening food security. - Dw.com
Kyiv wants people in Enerhodar to reveal the identities of local collaborators with the occupying authorities.
Ukraine’s defence ministry has urged citizens in a key area seized by Russia to reveal where Moscow’s troops were living and who among the local population was collaborating with the occupying authorities.
The statement on Saturday by the ministry’s defence intelligence directorate was aimed at people in and around the southern city of Enerhodar, which is home to a major nuclear power station.
“Please let us know as a matter of urgency the exact location of the occupying troops’ bases and their residential addresses … and the places of residence of the commanding staff,” it said, adding that exact coordinates were desirable.
Russia captured Enerhodar in early March and in May, the Russian-appointed head of the city was injured in an explosion. The Kremlin termed it a “terrorist attack”.
In June, a pro-Russian official in the southern Kherson region was killed in a blast, the RIA news agency said. Earlier that month, the head of the region’s penal service was taken to hospital after a bomb exploded near his car.
Enerhodar had a pre-war population of more than 50,000. Many residents work at the two power plants near the town, one of which is the Zaporizhzhia facility, the largest nuclear power station in Europe. - Aljazeera.com
Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will sign an UN-backed deal to free up grain exports from Ukraine’s besieged ports on Friday, the Turkish presidency says.
“We’ve been working around the clock, with intense behind-the-scenes talks with countless moving parts,” Haq said.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said the upcoming agreement was expected to clarify the modality for inspections aboard the transiting vessels and the guarantees of their safe passage.
Russia has set inspections as a precondition as it seeks to prevent military equipment from reaching Ukraine.
Russian and Ukrainian officials have blamed each other for the blocked grain shipments. - Aljazeera.com
Russian missiles hit Odesa hours after deal to allow resumption of grain exports; US accuses Russia of deepening global food crisis Russia has targeted Ukraine’s main port of Odesa – through which grain shipments would take place – with cruise missile strikes, barely 12 hours after Moscow signed a deal with Ukraine to allow monitored grain exports from Ukraine’s southern ports. “
Ukraine’s defence ministry has urged citizens in Enerhodar, a key area seized by Russia, to reveal where Russian troops are living and who among the local population was collaborating with the occupying authorities.“
The UNHCR says 3.7 million Ukrainian refugees have received temporary protection status in the European Union.
The former deputy secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council has been suspected of high treason, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Hungary’s nationalist prime minister Viktor Orbán called for US-Russian peace talks to end the war in Ukraine, lashing out at the European Union’s strategy on the conflict.
The spokesperson, not named in the report, did not provide any details about the individuals or the circumstances of their deaths but said the US administration was in touch with the families and providing “all possible consular assistance,” according to CNN. - Theguardian.com
Russia and Ukraine will sign a deal on Friday to reopen Ukraine's Black Sea ports for grain exports, Turkey said, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by Russia's invasion can be eased.
Ukraine and Russia, both among the world's biggest exporters of food, did not immediately confirm Thursday's announcement by the office of the Turkish presidency.
But in a late-night video address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hinted that his country's Black Sea ports could soon be unblocked.
The blockade by Russia's Black Sea fleet has worsened global supply chain disruptions and, along with Western sanctions imposed on Moscow, stoked high inflation in food and energy prices since Russian forces swept into Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Full details of the deal were not immediately released. It was due to be signed at 1330 GMT on Friday, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's office said.
Zelenskiy, whose address focused mainly on Ukrainian forces' potential to make gains on the battlefield, said: "And tomorrow we also expect news for our state from Turkey - regarding the unblocking of our ports." - Thedailystar.net
Hungary leader calls for Russia and the United States to hold negotiations to bring about an end to the Ukraine war.
“A new strategy is needed which should focus peace talks and drafting a good peace proposal … instead of winning the war,” Orban said in a speech in Romania on Saturday.
Orban, reelected for a fourth consecutive term in April, reiterated that Hungary – a NATO member – would stay out of the war in neighboring Ukraine.
Orban has said before that Hungary is unwilling to support EU embargoes or limitations on Russian gas imports as that would undermine its economy, which relies heavily on Russian gas imports.
He said Ukraine will never win the war this way “quite simply because the Russian army has asymmetrical dominance”.
“With US President [Donald] Trump and German chancellor [Angela] Merkel, this war would never have happened,” he said. - Aljazeera.com
