Meeting with the Russian Security Council on November 2, Vladimir Putin said Russia would resume taking part in an agreement to protect ships carrying grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
That was a reversal from days earlier, when Russia claimed Ukraine had undermined the so-called Black Sea Grain Initiative after attackers hit Russian military ships in Crimea.
He said Russia only resumed participation because Ukraine said it would never happen again:
Problem is, Russia's claim that Ukraine exploited the humanitarian corridor for an attack is unsubstantiated. And recall that a day after the grain accord was reached .
The background:
Ukraine is one of the world’s great breadbaskets, producing wheat, corn and other grains that feed Europe, the Mideast and parts Asia and Africa.
After months of Russia’s war had disrupted Ukrainian agricultural production, grain had piled up in Black Sea ports. Shipping it amid the fighting was simply too risky.
Enter the , brokered with help from Turkey. The agreement that the parties "will not undertake any attacks against merchant vessels … and port facilities engaged in this initiative."
Mostly it has worked. Through the end of October, nearly 9 million metric tons of grain had made it out of three Ukrainian ports to a hungry world.
On October 29, however, an attack by drones Russia’s Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Russia quickly Ukraine, which neither confirmed nor denied responsibility, and claimed without evidence that British navy specialists were involved, . An unconfirmed video, purportedly showing a cruising drone being fired on at sea, .
The New York Times reported:
According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington, D.C., think-tank that is closely monitoring the fighting, Ukraine’s armed forces the Russian ships.
The ISW noted that Russia’s Black Sea Fleet includes three frigates armed with Kalibr missiles, and that Russia has used such missiles and drones to shell Ukraine’s energy infrastructure for three weeks now.
But the ISW pointedly noted: “Attacks on military vessels in wartime are legitimate acts of war and not terrorist attacks.”
Nonetheless, on the evening of the attack, it would “suspend” participation in the grain deal. It accused Ukraine of using the humanitarian corridor to conduct the strike.
The Interfax news agency, citing Russia’s Defense Ministry, : “[T]he maritime drones moved along the security zone of the ‘grain corridor’, after which they changed route in the direction of the Russian ships base in Sevastopol.”
Russia also one of the drones was launched from a ship carrying Ukrainian grain along the humanitarian corridor.
United Nations aid chief Martin Griffiths that a civilian cargo ship may have been involved in the drone attack, saying that “none were in the corridor on the night of 29 October when the reported attacks took place.”
Griffiths that when there is no civilian cargo ship with grain moving along the humanitarian corridor, the corridor .
The grain deal even after Russia withdrew from it. On October 31, , “12 ships sailed out from Ukrainian ports, and two headed in to load food.”
What about of receiving “guarantees” from Ukraine?
According to Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko, and will continue to with the grain deal.