File photo of Black Sea port facilities at Odesa, Ukraine. (Leskas/iStock/Getty Images)

Russian diplomat accuses Ukraine of using Black Sea grain corridor for attacks

Russia says it's negotiating exports of food to countries most in need

Moscow | Reuters – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin on Friday accused Ukraine of using a grain export corridor in the Black Sea to launch “terrorist attacks” against Russian interests, including one this week on the Crimean Bridge. Vershinin was addressing a briefing about Russia’s decision on Monday to quit the year-old Black Sea […] Read more

A seaport grain terminal damaged during Russian missile and drone strikes in Odesa region, Ukraine on July 19, 2023. (Photo: Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry via Facebook/Handout via Reuters)

Russia delivers Black Sea warning as Ukraine decries ‘hellish’ grain port attacks

Russian missiles strike Odesa for second night in a row

Kyiv | Reuters — Russia warned that from Thursday any ships sailing to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports would be seen as potentially carrying military cargoes, as Kyiv accused Moscow of carrying out “hellish” overnight strikes that damaged grain export infrastructure. Russia attacked the Odesa region for the second consecutive night after quitting on Monday a […] Read more


Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (r) and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol attend a joint statement in Kyiv on July 15, 2023. Photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko

Grain shipping deal can operate without Russia, Zelenskyy says

'Blackmail is not allowed for anyone'

Kyiv | Reuters — The Black Sea grain shipment deal must continue and could operate without Russian participation after Moscow’s withdrawal on Monday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. Ukraine, Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address, was a food source for 400 million people. “Africa has the right to stability. Asia has the right to […] Read more

Vessels are seen as they await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus at Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

Black Sea grain deal expires after Russia quits

United Nations says the move would "strike a blow to people in need everywhere"

United Nations/Moscow | Reuters – A deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine’s grain for the past year expired on Monday after Russia quit and warned it could not guarantee the safety of ships in a move the United Nations said would “strike a blow to people in need everywhere.” Moscow suggested that […] Read more


Vessels are seen as they await inspection under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, brokered by the UN and Turkey, in the southern anchorage of the Bosphorus at Istanbul on Dec. 11, 2022. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

UN waits for Russian answer as Black Sea deal deadline looms

U.S. says Russia using grain deal 'as a weapon'

United Nations | Reuters — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is still waiting for a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin on a proposal to extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain beyond Monday, a U.N. spokesperson said on Friday. Guterres wrote to Putin on Tuesday asking him to extend the […] Read more

CBOT September 2023 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average, MGEX September 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. September 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat, corn rise as Ukraine shipping deal set to end

Soybeans mixed on profit-taking, supply questions

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose on Friday as drought conditions in Canada and the northern Plains continue to weigh on the market, as does uncertainty over the future of Ukraine’s wartime grain export shipping deal that is set to expire on Monday. Corn followed wheat up on yield concerns and technical trading. […] Read more

A destroyed house after floodwaters receded following the collapse of the Nova Kakhovka dam in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict, in the town of Hola Prystan in the Kherson region, June 16, 2023.

From Ukraine: Farmers prepare for the onslaught of the desert

When the Nova Kakhovka dam was breached, it lit the fuse on slow motion agricultural disaster

To an enormous country like Canada, Ukraine might seem small, but it is the largest country that exists entirely within Europe. There are many natural landscapes present here — forests, mountains, forest-steppe (what you know as the parkland in Western Canada) and steppe (prairie). There is even a small strip of subtropics with palm trees […] Read more


A Belize-flagged bulker, carrying grain under UN’s Black Sea Grain Initiative, transits the Bosphorus at Istanbul on May 12, 2023. (File photo: Reuters/Yoruk Isik)

UN scrambles to save Black Sea deal ahead of Monday deadline

Russia says has not yet taken final decision

United Nations | Reuters — The European Commission is helping the United Nations and Turkey try to extend a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukraine grain and is open to “explore all solutions,” a European Union spokesperson said on Thursday, ahead of the deal’s possible expiration on Monday. The U.N. and Turkey brokered […] Read more

Liberia-flagged bulker K Sukret, carrying grain under the Black Sea Grain Initiative, waits for inspection in the southern anchorage of Istanbul on May 17, 2023. (Photo: Reuters/Mehmet Emin Caliskan)

UN asks Putin to extend Black Sea grain deal in return for SWIFT access

Grain export initiative to expire Monday otherwise

United Nations | Reuters — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters. Russia has threatened to ditch […] Read more