Military officials from Russia and Ukraine have reached an agreement to resume Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea. That may be laid down as early as next week at a special UN summit.
UN chief António Guterres showed hope, but also says that details still need to be worked out.
Russia is reportedly agreeing to a ceasefire on grain shipments by sea, and Turkey — backed by the United Nations — will inspect such grain ships to allay Russian fears of arms smuggling. A first test run from Odessa should demonstrate whether the agreements actually work. Such a first grain ship may be accompanied by the Turkish navy.
Since the Russian invasion, access to Ukrainian ports has been blocked, partly due to the presence of the Russian navy's war fleet and partly due to naval mines laid by the Ukrainians to keep the Russians out of their coastal area. As a result, and the international sanctions against Russia, the grain exports of both major grain suppliers via the Black Sea have largely come to a standstill.
The grain corridors that the European Union wants to create for Ukrainian grain exports in neighboring Poland, Moldova and Romania have so far hardly had any effect. EU politicians painted a particularly gloomy picture about this last Monday.
Two delegations from the European Parliament have paid working visits to various border crossings in recent weeks. Their report shows that Ukrainian grain exports have come to a complete standstill. Almost all major buyers have purchased elsewhere in the world because Ukrainian raw materials can only be obtained at high transport costs and insurance premiums.
The Ukrainian grain that is brought to Poland by train and trucks, then occupies the storage space for Polish grain traders there. After that, that grain does not end up in the Middle East or North Africa. Polish grain traders are already complaining about unfair competition from grain that is not transported through.