The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine is entering its 149th day.
The export of millions of tons of grain from the war-torn Ukraine is to be jointly monitored by the conflicting parties under UN leadership. An agreement to end Russia's grain blockade in the Black Sea, due to be signed today, provides for a joint control center in Istanbul to be led by the United Nations and staffed by representatives from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey. Details of the EU's new sanctions against Russia have also been made public.
The envisaged agreement on the Ukrainian grain deliveries provides that the precise coordinates for the humanitarian corridor on the sea route between Ukraine and the Bosphorus will also be determined in the control center in Istanbul. In addition, the parties agreed that ships bound for Ukraine would first be searched in Istanbul to ensure that they were not carrying weapons or the like.
