This week, Ukraine will initiate with Turkey and the UN the issue of extending the grain agreement for at least one year, including Mykolaiv ports.
Reuters writes about it.
Currently, the initiative allowed grain to be exported from three Ukrainian ports. The deal was extended in November and will expire on March 18 unless an extension is agreed upon.
"This week, we will send an official proposal on the need to work on extending the agreement. We will ask to extend it not for 120 days, but at least for a year, because the Ukrainian and global agricultural market should be able to plan these volumes in the long term," said the deputy Yurii Vaskov, Minister of Reconstruction of Ukraine.
At the same time, Ukraine will insist on increasing the number of inspection groups in order to eliminate the accumulation of vessels awaiting inspection.
Vaskov added that the ports of Mykolaiv, which accounted for 35% of Ukrainian food exports before the Russian invasion, are also ready to join the initiative and will only need two weeks to start work, and the occupation of the Kinburn Spit is not an obstacle to this.
"If ports are included in the initiative, there will be an obligation not to attack ships transporting agricultural products, which can work even in the current situation," Vaskov said.