Russia has been constantly creating obstacles to the grain agreement, and now it continues to do so. Currently, the attention and activities of the relevant ministries of Ukraine, including the President of Ukraine during his international trip, are aimed at establishing work in the context of the continuation of the grain initiative.

Denys Marchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Ukrainian Agri Council, emphasized this issue during a briefing at the Ukrainian multimedia platform Ukrinform.

"De facto, we have got a suspension of the "corridor". Since the end of June, ships have been blocked from registering and entering the territory of Ukraine from the Bosphorus. That is, during these days, those ships that were in the ports of Greater Odesa were able to load, and de facto, nothing is happening today. Although de jure, we have an extension of the Istanbul Agreement until July 18, 2023," he emphasized.

However, Denys Marchuk suggested that we should not expect an active phase of the Istanbul Agreement extension immediately after July 18, as July and August will actually be the time for negotiations.

"Why is this so? Because we know from the Turkish president's statement that he would like to hold personal talks with the president of the aggressor country Putin. The personal talks are to take place in Turkey in August, so the date has not yet been determined. Therefore, we understand that in July and August there will be no unloading from the territory of the ports of Greater Odesa," he declared.

In addition, Denys Marchuk expressed hope that despite Russia's position, the agreement would work.

"We hope that even if they do not reach an agreement, the grain agreement will work. We had such precedents in November 2022, when, despite Russia's withdrawal, ships were moving within the framework of the signed agreements between Ukraine, Turkey and the UN. In fact, there are assurances from the Turkish side that this will also happen, despite the position of the aggressor country," he added.