Russia-Ukraine war: Zelenskyy calls on the international community to take more action to protect grain corridor

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the international community to take more action to protect the grain corridor. This follows Russia’s sudden suspension of its involvement in the deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.

In his nightly address Tuesday, Zelenskyy said the grain corridor needed “long-term and reliable defense” as ships continue to sail out of Ukraine’s ports due to the deal that allowed ships safe passage. Russian leader Vladimir Putin earlier told Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at the time that Moscow would reconsider joining the deal that is subject to security guarantees from Kyiv.

Russia withdrew its involvement Saturday after it accused Ukraine of carrying out a “terrorist” attack on Russian ships in the Black Sea with some involvement from the United Kingdom. Kyiv has not commented on the allegations, while London dismissed the accusations as an invented story. Moscow sought to retaliate by bombarding cities across Ukraine with missiles, including Kyiv.

“Russia must clearly be made aware that it will receive a tough response from the world to any steps to disrupt our food exports,” said Zelenskyy in his address. “At issue here clearly are the lives of tens of millions of people.”

Zelenskyy spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron on the same day, with Macron condemning Russia’s decision to withdraw from the deal, saying that this “harms global food security.”

Ukrainian infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said eight loaded ships are set to travel through the grain corridor on Thursday.

By Wednesday, Russia’s defense ministry said it has now received guarantees from Ukraine and would rejoin the deal. This follows Erdogan’s comments saying that the Turkish defense minister spoke with Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and that the grain deal would continue operations on the same day. Erdogan told the Turkish parliament that the grain shipments would continue.

Ukraine is a key exporter of grain, and the deal has given relief to the global food crisis caused by Russia’s invasion.

The Kremlin has criticized the deal, saying that the shipments were mostly arriving in Europe rather than low-income countries where grain is needed the most. Ukrainian officials have denied Russia’s claims and a monitoring group also refuted Moscow’s allegations with data as part of the agreement.