Ambassador: Ukraine will not agree to any ship inspections in new grain deal

Turkey still hopes to reopen the grain corridor. Ukraine’s position is that there should be no control or inspection of ships leaving Ukrainian ports.

This was stated by Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar on the air of the United News telethon.

“The fact that we have created our own corridor (in the Black Sea – ed.) encourages our partners to build other routes. I would like to remind you that ships pass through the territorial waters of Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey, and now we are talking about creating a safer route. The only thing that does not suit us is a return to the conditions that existed within the first grain corridor. There can be no control, no inspections of ships leaving Ukrainian ports. We will never agree to this,” Bodnar said.

He noted that these talks are part of the preparations for the Food Security Conference to be held in Turkey in late August.

“At the first Peace Summit, it was agreed, and this is reflected in the Summit communiqué, that the issue of global security will be worked out in a working group and a certain forum will focus on the security of agricultural producers, ports, ensuring navigation, creating conditions for the safe delivery of products from Ukraine to those countries that need it most,” Bodnar said.

As Ukrinform reported, Ukraine has managed to secure a new humanitarian corridor for ships in the Black Sea. The movement of merchant ships to and from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea is taking place despite the shelling of port infrastructure by Russian troops.

Ukraine, the United Nations, and Turkey signed an agreement to extend the Initiative for the Safe Transportation of Agricultural Products through the Black Sea in July 2022. A similar agreement was signed by the UN, Turkey, and Russia.

On July 17, 2023, the Russian side sent its objections to the extension of the grain deal to Turkey, Ukraine, and the UN and de facto terminated it.

On August 10, Ukraine announced new temporary routes for merchant ships sailing to/from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. These routes are used primarily to allow civilian vessels that have been in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa, and Pivdennyi since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, to leave.

Global wheat prices began to decline immediately after the first ship with grain left one of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, for the first time since Russia announced its withdrawal from the grain deal.

Tags: Ukraine, Turkey, Black Sea grain corridor