Kyiv opposes Russian plan to extend grain deal by 60 days

Russia has proposed a 60-day extension to the wartime grain export deal with Ukraine, but Ukraine has said that this goes against the agreement between the two countries. The United Nations has noted the Russian announcement about the extension and reaffirmed its support for the deal struck in July as “part of the global response to the most severe cost-of-living crisis in a generation”. Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said that a 60-day extension contradicts the documents signed by guarantors Turkey and the UN, but did not reject the proposal. The UN and Turkey brokered a deal between the two warring countries in July that allows Ukraine to ship food and fertiliser from three of its Black Sea ports. Moscow has been frustrated that a parallel deal to allow exports of Russian food and fertiliser, which is used across the globe, has only resulted in a trickle of Russian fertiliser getting out and no Russian grain at all.