According to the official in an interview for the Rada television channel, no insurance company will dare send its ships to the ports of Ukraine after Russia withdrew from the agreement on July 17th.

Podoliak’s statements partly refute what President Vladimir Zelenski said on that day, when he stated that the companies that own the ships allegedly informed Kiev of their willingness to continue supplying grain from Ukrainian ports without Russia’s involvement.

Russia recalled that the part of the memorandum that concerned Russia (the removal of obstacles to Russian agricultural exports by Western countries) was never fulfilled, despite extending several times the agreement that established a corridor in the Black Sea for ships carrying Ukrainian grain.

Moscow also stressed that while the stated purpose of the deals was to send food to the poorest countries, most of the grain from Ukraine went to developed countries in the West.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov stated that Russia is ready to return to the pact, but only when the part regarding broken guarantees has been fulfilled.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced that due to the termination of the grain deal, all ships heading to Ukrainian ports in Black Sea waters after 00:00 local time on July 20th will be considered as potential carriers of military cargo for Ukraine.

In addition, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that several maritime areas in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the international waters of the Black Sea were temporarily declared dangerous for navigation.

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