Kyiv will consider transiting Russian ammonia through its territory for export, provided a recently updated Black Sea grain shipping agreement is expanded to include more Ukrainian ports and a wider range of goods, a government source told Reuters.

This is the first time that Kyiv has publicly expressed its position on Russian ammonia, which Moscow wants to transport through a pipeline through Ukraine to the Black Sea, News.ro notes.

Russia, a major ammonia exporter, is pushing to restore ammonia supplies through a pipeline that runs from Russia’s Tolyatti to Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Pivdenny near Odesa, designed to pump up to 2.5 million tons of ammonia a year. .

The United Nations has supported the resumption of ammonia pipelines to try to help global food security.

The initiative to transport Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, agreed by Turkey and the UN last July, promotes “safe transport for the export of grain and food products and related fertilizers, including ammonia” from three Ukrainian ports. A Ukrainian government source told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the terms of the agreement do not cover the transit of Russian ammonia through Ukraine.

Russia used to export 4.4 million tons of ammonia a year, or 20% of global maritime trade, before it invaded Ukraine last February.

Despite Russian threats to withdraw from the claims agreement, the Black Sea Initiative was extended for two months on Wednesday, a day before it was due to expire.

UKRAINE WANTS MORE PORTS AND MORE GOODS

The agreement includes only three main Black Sea ports of Ukraine. Kyiv has repeatedly stated that it would like the agreement to cover more ports, but also more products.

A government source said the text agreed on Wednesday did not mention the Tolyatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and transit through Ukrainian territory, and that another agreement would be needed to cover the Ukrainian route. Instead, Ukraine would set certain conditions.

“We are saying the following: if (the agreement) includes ammonia pipe, then Ukraine should get additional things that will serve our national interests,” the Ukrainian source said. “It is about expanding the geography of the agreement and the list of goods (for export through the safe corridor from the Black Sea). Then it could serve the interests of our country,” said the Ukrainian official.

The source did not specify what additional goods Ukraine wants to include, but officials in Kyiv have previously said that the country, which previously exported steel across the Black Sea, should also export metal products.

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