Ukraine and the Alternative Plan to Continue Exports

Ukrainian Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky said on Friday that the country is ready to continue exporting grain via the Black Sea under an "alternative plan" without Russian support if Moscow stops the current grain export agreement and it collapses. Solsky stated in an interview with Reuters that Russia has already prevented the use of the main Ukrainian port of Pivdenny on the Black Sea despite the agreement, allowing only one ship a day to deliver Ukrainian grain to certain countries. He added, "We will be ready for the alternative plan, which depends on us and on the United Nations, and I don't think we will stand idly by if the situation continues in this way in the near future." He emphasized that the alternative plan excludes the fourth party, Russia, from this relationship, expressing hopes for the success of the current initiative to export grain via the Black Sea despite existing difficulties, while any other option would require a new agreement or formula. He said, "Since the first formula is legally in effect and we have hope for it, we will try to activate it," adding that if Ukraine finds it has nothing to lose, "it is clear that we will discuss the details of the 'alternative' plan." The United Nations and Turkey brokered an initiative for exporting grain via the Black Sea last July to help address a global food crisis exacerbated in February 2022 following the war between Russia and Ukraine, one of the largest grain-exporting countries in the world. Russia has stated that it will allow more ships to pass if all parties in the grain agreement agree to lift the ban on the transit of Russian ammonia through a pipeline that passes through Ukrainian territory to Pivdenny for export. A spokesman for the United Nations stated on Thursday that Russia had informed officials overseeing the initiative that Moscow would limit access to Pivdenny port until all parties agreed to lift the ban on the transit of Russian ammonia.