UN chief in last-ditch grain talks as clock ticks down on Ukraine deal

Antonio Guterres leads efforts to renew Black Sea initiative despite threat of Russian withdrawal

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Brussels for a 'working retreat' with senior EU officials. AFP

UN chief Antonio Guterres was holding last-ditch talks in Brussels on Friday aimed at getting grain exports out of Ukraine as the clock ticks down to the end of a critical shipping deal with Russia.

The European Union said the “ball is in President Putin’s court” as the world waits for Russia’s decision on whether to renew the Black Sea grain deal that expires on Monday.

Britain accused Moscow of “cynical brinkmanship” over the pact, which gives safe passage to cargo ships in the Black Sea on condition that Russia and Ukraine can each inspect them.

Ukraine is one of the world’s top agricultural producers and a wartime blockade of its Black Sea ports was blamed for a jump in global food prices before the UN and Turkey brokered the deal a year ago.

In overnight remarks, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a plea for the deal’s renewal so that “there are no threats to food security anywhere in the world”.

“Russia must clearly realise that anyone who increases the threat of famine, particularly in critical regions of Africa, is terrorising the whole world with hunger, not just a single nation,” he said.

The grain question will be the “big topic” of Friday’s EU-UN discussions on Ukraine, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as she welcomed Mr Guterres to Brussels.

Twelve EU commissioners are meeting Mr Guterres and senior UN officials for a “working retreat” on the edge of Brussels, which comes 72 hours before the grain deal expires.

“The world needs it, Russia has a responsibility to prolong it,” Ms von der Leyen said of the grain initiative after praising Mr Guterres for his “tireless efforts” to renew it.

“Otherwise, global food insecurity will be the consequence. So now, the ball is in President Putin's court. And the world is watching.”

Mr Guterres said he had made “concrete proposals” in a letter to Mr Putin that suggested restrictions could be eased on a Russian agricultural bank in return for the deal’s renewal.

But Mr Putin said he had not seen any new proposals, according to Russian media. He told state television the Kremlin had not yet decided whether to renew the deal.

Mr Putin described the deal as “entirely one-sided” and said promises under the agreement had not been kept. Moscow has complained it is struggling to export its own agricultural produce despite assurances from the UN.

Russia was also angered by a Turkish prisoner release under which five Ukrainian commanders, who were captured during the symbolic defence of a Mariupol steelworks, were freed. They were in Turkey under the terms of a swap deal.

The grain deal signed in Istanbul last year was initially in place for two 120-day periods but Russia has increased pressure by allowing only 60-day renewals since March.

“We have seen at every renewal point, including this one, that the Russian approach is simply cynical brinkmanship,” said Barbara Woodward, the UK’s permanent representative to the UN.

She said cargo ships could be attacked by Moscow’s forces if the deal collapses and accused Russian officials of reducing grain volumes on the world market by “slow-rolling” inspections in Istanbul.

“Then, by signalling that they are considering refusing to renew the deal, they are also affecting global grain prices,” she added.

Before the grain deal, goods unable to leave from Black Sea ports were transported from Ukraine to neighbouring countries by road, rail or river barge.

However, these routes cannot handle the same volume of grain and come with practical problems, such as a time-consuming wheel change needed for trains at the Polish border because of different track gauges.

The World Food Programme this week said the deal had helped global prices fall by 23 per cent since surging in the early stages of the war.