Updated 01:28 | Published at 01:23
The agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain during the ongoing Russian war of aggression expires this week and no new deal is in the offing. On Sunday, perhaps the last cargo of grain left Odessa.
On Sunday, the ship TQ Samsun left the port of Odessa on the Black Sea with its cargo of grain, the last to sail under the grain export agreement that expires on July 18, the BBC reports.
According to the website MarineTraffic, the Turkish-flagged ship left Odessa shortly after 8 a.m. local time on its way to Istanbul.
The agreement on grain exports from Ukraine was negotiated with the help of Turkey and the United Nations last summer and allows Ukraine to export grain from three Ukrainian ports, Odessa, Yuzne and Chornomorsk.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened not to extend the agreement, which expires on July 18, because it “does not serve Russia’s interests in exporting agricultural products and fertilizer,” as he put it in an interview on state Russian television.
Last week, UN Secretary-General António Guterres sent a letter to Putin in which he writes that he wants to work to remove obstacles to Russia’s export of fertilizers.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that Vladimir Putin has agreed to extend the grain export agreement, but that information has not been confirmed by the Kremlin.
The agreement is meant to be extended by 120 days at a time, but in March and May 2023, Russia only agreed to 60-day extensions.