Array
Russia agreed Wednesday to rejoin a wartime agreement that allows Ukrainian grain and other commodities to be shipped to world markets. The UN’s refugee chief, meanwhile, put the number of Ukrainians driven from their homes since the Russian invasion eight months ago at around 14 million.
It is the fastest, largest displacement witnessed in decades, said Filippo Grandi, who heads the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
In announcing that Russia would rejoin the grain pact, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow had received assurances that Ukraine would not use the humanitarian corridors to attack Russian forces. He warned that Russia reserves the right to withdraw again if Kyiv breaks its word.
Putin praised Turkey’s mediation efforts to get the deal back on track, as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s neutrality in the conflict as a whole and his efforts at ensuring the interest of the poorest countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he also thanked Erdogan on Wednesday, for his active participation in maintaining the grain agreement, and his unwavering support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.
Russia had suspended its participation in the grain deal over the weekend, citing an alleged drone attack against its Black Sea fleet in Crimea.
Erdogan said shipments would resume Wednesday, prioritising those to African nations, including Somalia, Djibouti and Sudan. That’s in line with Russia’s concerns that much of the exported grain had ended up in richer nations, since Moscow and Kyiv made separate agreements with Turkey and the UN in July.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said Monday that 23 per cent of the cargo exported from Ukraine under the grain deal went to lower-or lower-middle-income countries, which also received 49 per cent of all wheat shipments.
