Ukraine on Tuesday said Russia was effectively cutting one of its ports out of a critical wartime deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports, as Russia complained that it had been unable to export ammonia via a pipeline to Pivdennyi under the pact.
The Black Sea deal – brokered last July by the United Nations and Türkiye and extended for two months last week – covers the wartime export of food and fertilizers from the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi.
The U.N. expressed concern on Monday that Pivdennyi had not received any ships since May 2 under the deal.
Ukrainian Deputy Renovation Minister Yuriy Vaskov accused Russia of a "gross violation" of the agreement. All ships are inspected by a joint team of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. inspectors, but Vaskov said the Russian inspectors had refused to inspect ships bound for Pivdennyi since April 29.
"They (Russia) have now found an effective way to significantly reduce (Ukrainian) grain exports by excluding the port of Pivdennyi, which handles large tonnage vessels, from the initiative," Vaskov said in written comments on Tuesday.
Pivdennyi is the largest port included in the deal in terms of throughput. Restoration ministry data suggest it is storing about 1.5 million tons of food items for future export to 10 countries, with 26 ships due to come for them.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that Russia's actions were "a clear violation of their commitments" under the grain deal, calling on Moscow to "stop holding global food supplies hostage."
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield on Tuesday accused Russia of pushing millions of people in Africa and the Middle East into food insecurity by using "food as a weapon of war in Ukraine," including blocking Ukrainian grain shipments for months.
She said the Black Sea grain agreement was a "beacon of hope to the world."
Ammonia
The Black Sea grain deal was agreed upon to help tackle a global food crisis aggravated by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The pact also covers ammonia – a key ingredient of fertilizer – which Russia transported to Pivdennyi via pipeline for export before the war.
Russia had threatened not to renew the Black Sea deal unless a list of demands related to its own food and fertilizer exports was met. Restarting the ammonia pipeline is one of those demands, which the United Nations has been trying to broker.
Russia used to pump up to 2.5 million tons of ammonia annually for export via the pipeline from Togliati.
Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia on Tuesday said that amount of ammonia could "produce 7 million tons of fertilizers."
"This amount of fertilizer would allow to produce enough food to supply to 200 million people. These deliveries should have started at the same time as those of Ukrainian food. However this never happened," he told the U.N. Security Council.
"The deficit of ammonia on the world markets stands at 70% due to the shortfall in volumes," Nebenzia said.
A Ukrainian government source told Reuters on Friday that Kyiv would consider allowing Russian ammonia to transit its territory for export if the Black Sea grain deal was expanded to include more Ukrainian ports and a wider range of commodities.
Uralchem, Russia's biggest potash and ammonium nitrate producer, expects the opening of an ammonia export terminal near the Black Sea to make the pipeline across Ukraine much less important, the company's CEO said.
While Russian exports of food and fertilizer are not subject to Western sanctions, Moscow says restrictions on payments, logistics and insurance have amounted to a barrier to shipments.
Ukraine accused Moscow of slowing ship inspections under the Black Sea deal, which Russia denies.
"It is not working as it should. Russia continues to slow it down as much as possible," Vaskov said.
According to U.N. data, more than 30 million tons of food products have been exported so far under the Black Sea deal.
Nebenzia claimed very little of shipped grain has gone to developing countries.