Despite reigning hostilities, Ukraine and Russia convened to sign a landmark deal

In the midst of war, Moscow and Kyiv set hostilities aside to sign a landmark deal to relieve a global food crisis. 

On Friday, Ukraine and Russia signed a landmark deal directed toward relieving a global food crisis, a result of blocked Black Sea grain deliveries. This deal put an end to months of negotiations and sent wheat prices as low as levels seen before only during Moscow’s invasion. 

This deal signifies the first major deal between the two presently warring parties since Russia’s February invasion of Russia. The deal will aid in easing the “acute hunger” that the United Nations have proclaimed is being faced by an additional 47 million people as a result of the war. 

Despite the mutual understanding, a slight hostility between Moscow and Kyiv found its way into the signing ceremony, a brief delay caused due to disputes regarding the display of flags around the table as well as Ukraine’s refusal to put its name on the same document as Russia.  

The consensus was reached when both sides eventually signed separate yet identical agreements in the presence of the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres and Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Istanbul’s Dolmabahçe Palace. “Today, there is a beacon on the Black Sea — a beacon of hope, a beacon of possibility, a beacon of relief,” Guterres remarked before the signing. Erdogan, another key player in the negotiations that took place and has good relations with both Moscow and Kyiv, said the deal would “hopefully revive the path to peace.” 

However, the ceremony itself was not entirely peaceful, with Ukraine entering with a blunt warning stating that it would conduct “an immediate military response” should Russia violate the agreement and attack its ships or stage an incursion around its ports. “The responsibility for enforcing the deal would fall to the UN, which along with Turkey is a co-guarantor of the agreement,” said Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

The signed agreement includes points on running the Ukrainian grain ships along safe corridors that avoid known mines in the Black Sea. Huge quantities of wheat and other grain have been blocked in Ukrainian ports by Russian warships and landmines Kyiv has laid to avert a feared amphibious assault. Around 20 million tonnes of produce from last year’s harvest and the current crop would be exported under the agreement, estimating the value of Ukraine’s grain stocks at around $10 billion,” says President Zelensky. 

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told Kremlin state media after attending the signing ceremony that he expected the deal to start working “in the next few days”. He pointed out that Russia had managed to secure a separate pledge from Washington and Brussels to lift all restrictions on its own grain and other agricultural exports. 

The United States and European countries hailed the agreement while urging Moscow to abide by its rules. A US official said the deal was “well-structured” enough to monitor Russian compliance. The European Union called for the deal’s “swift implementation” while British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said London “will be watching to ensure Russia’s actions match its words”.