An agreement allowing Ukrainian grain to ship through the Black Sea has been extended for two months just a day before its expiration — overcoming Russia's threats to pull out of the deal.
Brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal allows Ukraine to ship food and fertilizer through a humanitarian corridor from Black Sea ports. The duration of the extension remained uncertain.
At the heart of the Ukraine grain export deal is a complex inspection process involving Turkey and the U.N. NPR recently joined a team of inspectors aboard a ship carrying grain in the Marmara sea.
Russia, which had suspended participation over the weekend, says the grain deal is back on after assurances that shipping corridors would not be used for military purposes.
Countries are scrambling to salvage a deal allowing Ukraine to export grain, after Russia said it pulled out indefinitely, a decision that risks worsening global hunger.
Farmers in Ukraine begin to harvest this year's wheat, barley and rapeseed crops as diplomats try to negotiate an end to Russia's Black Sea blockade of exports.
