Russian and Turkish leaders to discuss Black Sea grain deal as more ships leave Ukraine

Two more cargo ships have left Ukraine via a “temporary corridor” across the Black Sea as the United Nations seeks to bring Moscow back into a deal to safeguard Ukrainian grain exports. Meanwhile the leaders of Russia and Turkey prepared to hold talks on the issue.

Russia withdrew in July from an agreement brokered by the UN and Turkey a year earlier to lift its naval blockade of Ukraine’s ports. While the pact was in operation Ukraine exported some 33 million tonnes of grain, oils and other farm products, boosting its own ailing economy and helping to limit food price inflation and reduce the threat of famine in some regions.

Moscow accuses the West of failing to meet terms of the deal that should have boosted its food and fertiliser exports, and accuses Ukraine of using the pact as cover to develop marine drones and launch them from its ports at Russian targets on the Black Sea.

After refusing to extend the pact on July 17th, Russia said it would treat any ships sailing to or from Ukraine as potential military targets and launched repeated missile and drone strikes on its Black Sea ports, damaging infrastructure and destroying grain stores.

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Nevertheless, four cargo ships have since left Odesa ports and sailed across the Black Sea using a “temporary corridor” that hugs the coasts of Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, with the latest two vessels departing on Friday.

The Kremlin has confirmed that Russian president Vladimir Putin will host Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on the grain agreement and other issues on Monday.

The UN is also trying to end the impasse, and its secretary-general Antonio Guterres said he had written to Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov with “concrete proposals” to revive the deal.

“We believe it would be extremely important to renew it. At the same time we took into concern the Russian requests. And I believe we presented a proposal that could be the basis for a renewal, but a renewal that must be stable,” Mr Guterres said. “We have some concrete solutions for the concerns allowing for a more effective access of Russian food and fertilisers to global markets at adequate prices. And I believe that working seriously we can have a positive solution for everybody.”

However, after talks on Thursday with Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Mr Lavrov said the West was offering “only promises to try faster, try more actively ... As soon as there are not promises, but guarantees, with a concrete result that can be implemented tomorrow, then from tomorrow the implementation of this package will resume in full.”

Russian officials in at least three regions said Ukrainian drones were shot down on Friday, as the head of Kyiv’s military intelligence said drones that struck a Russian airfield some 700km from Ukraine this week were launched from inside Russia.

“We are working from the territory of Russia,” Kyrylo Budanov told the War Zone website, which published satellite images showing that two Il-76 military transport planes had been destroyed and two damaged in the strike.

Ukraine said one man was killed in Russian shelling of the southern city of Kherson on Friday, and three people were hurt in a missile attack on the central Vinnytsia region.