Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, commented on the extension of the Grain Deal:

“The Grain Deal has been unblocked and will be extended until July 18. The world will continue to receive Ukrainian food supplies thanks to the efforts of our partners in the deal – Turkey and the UN. We are grateful to our partners for their unwavering and focused position that the agreement should continue to work and on the terms signed by all parties. I would like to point out that the Grain Initiative has been and is still in force, having been extended in March for 120 days, until July 18. As of today, 30.4 million tonnes of agricultural products have already been shipped to the world. Since mid-April, russia has unduly restricted the work of the Initiative, and since May it has effectively blocked it by refusing to register a new fleet and to inspect the fleet that is being loaded in Ukrainian ports. Nearly 70 ships are currently waiting in Turkish territorial waters, 90% of which are ready to deliver the products of our farmers to the world. We welcome the continuation of the initiative, but stress that it must work effectively. For this to happen, we need to remove the problems that russia has been creating for several months now by sabotaging the inspections and registration of the new fleet. We hope that our partners will make every effort to ensure that the Grain Deal starts to work fully for the world’s food security and that russia finally stops using food as a weapon and blackmail.”