December 23, 2024

Russia-Ukraine war live: missile strike that killed two in Poland likely an accident from Ukrainian air defence, says Warsaw

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The Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reports from the G20 conference in Bali:

Away from the headlines created by the missiles landing in Poland, the G20 may have behind the scenes at least acted as a venue for the extension of the vital deal allowing Russian and Ukrainian wheat and fertilisers to be exported through the Black Sea, so bringing relief to some of the poorest and hungriest countries in the world.

The deal was set to expire on Saturday. Russia has been holding out on renewing the deal signed in July since in its view it was being implemented unfairly due to sanctions on Russian agricultural exports remaining in place.

Russia had already suspended the deal briefly once.

But the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, speaking at a press conference in Bali, said he was confident that the deal was going to be renewed, and not just temporarily, but instead for a year.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes a statement as he holds a press conference in Bali. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images © Provided by The Guardian Recep Tayyip Erdoğan makes a statement as he holds a press conference in Bali. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Turkey, jointly with the UN, had negotiated the initial Black Sea grain deal in July, and Erdoğan said its existence allowing grain to pass a Russian naval blockade had already allowed 11bn tonnes of grain through. Erdoğan said he would be holding further talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, as soon as he returned to Turkey from the G20 summit.

Russia has also secured an agreement that it will again be able to use a pipeline that transports ammonia, a key ingredient in nitrate fertiliser, through Ukrainian controlled territory before reaching a port near Odesa. Russian use of the pipeline was suspended following the 24 February Russian attack on Ukraine.

The UN plan is that ammonia produced by the Russian fertiliser producer Uralchem be brought to the Russia-Ukraine border. The product will be purchased by US commodities trader Trammo before being put into the pipeline, ensuring no Russian-owned grain transfers across Ukrainian territory. Uralchem is owned by a sanctioned Russian oligarch Dmitry Mazepin, making the transaction more complex.

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