​A deal on Ukrainian grain exports, which is crucial to ending the global food crisis, is in a “dire” situation, the UN warned on Wednesday, AFP and News.ro reported.

The warning of the head of the UN humanitarian aid, Martin Griffiths, sounded in the context of the hopes of the international organization that the agreement will be extended on March 18.

For its part, Ukraine on Wednesday appealed to the UN and Turkey to pressure Russia to immediately stop blocking Ukrainian grain supplies that supply millions of people and not to use food as a weapon.

This agreement, concluded in July 2022 between the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, helped limit the serious global food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 last year.

It was extended in mid-November for another 120 days and will be extended on March 18, Griffiths told a press conference in Geneva.

“I mean, before the last update, I expressed some confidence that this would happen,” he said. But “I think we’re in a slightly more difficult situation now,” he added, noting that the grain deal “works in tandem” with the UN-Russia deal on Russian fertilizer exports.

Griffiths explained that this second deal, also signed in July 2022 but lasting three years, is “in many ways (…) much more difficult to make work” than the grains deal.

After a nearly six-month blockade caused by the Russian invasion, three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea were unblocked at the end of July based on this agreement between Moscow and Kyiv brokered by the UN and Turkey.

Accusations between Ukraine and Russia over the export of agricultural products

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of delaying the inspection of ships with Ukrainian agricultural products, which led to reduced supplies and losses for traders. Russia rejected the accusations, saying that it fulfills all its obligations under the grain export agreement.

On the other hand, Moscow complains that its exports of fertilizer, a key product for global agriculture, are de facto blocked, even though they are not subject to sanctions imposed by Western countries since the start of the war.

However, Griffiths said he “hopes and believes” the grain deal will be extended in mid-March, stressing its importance to global food security. The agreement allowed nearly 20 million tons of grain to reach millions of people around the world, he said.

On January 18, the UN reported that China is the largest recipient of exports under the agreement, followed by Spain in second place and Turkey in third place. On the same date, almost 44% of exported wheat was sent to low- and middle-income countries, and 64% of it was destined for developing countries.

Last year, the World Food Program (WFP) bought 8% of the total wheat exported under the agreement to support its humanitarian operations in famine-stricken regions of the world.

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