Vessel inspections under a UN-brokered agreement on the safe export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports have been resumed, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Wednesday..

“Agreements have been reached on resuming the registration and inspection of ships arriving to be loaded with Ukrainian grain,” he wrote on Facebook after meeting with Turkish National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar.

Kubrakov recalled that from April 10, Russia stopped registering a new incoming fleet to participate in the Initiative and refused to work according to the plans of Ukrainian ports.. This made it impossible to draw up inspection plans and effectively suspended the entry of new ships under the Grain Initiative.. In particular, on April 17 and 18, not a single inspection of ships was carried out in the territorial waters of Turkey..

The minister stressed that by putting forward its own conditions for regulating the work of Ukrainian ports, Russia violated the official procedures of the Joint Coordination Center and the terms of the grain agreement in particular.

“I thank Turkish Defense Minister Akar Hulusi for a constructive dialogue and a clear position on supporting the work of the grain initiative. Despite the fact that ship inspections will be resumed, we continue working consultations with the UN and Turkey on ways to ensure the full implementation of the grain agreement to comply with the obligations of all parties and the procedures of the SKC,” Kubrakov added..

The resumption of the work of the inspection teams was also confirmed by the representative of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul, Ismine Palli, who said that “the inspection teams are already working” to restore grain supplies..

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On Monday, April 17, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell confirmed that Russia had blocked about 50 ships in Turkish waters in the Black Sea carrying Ukrainian grain.

Earlier, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine for Seaports and Shipping Yuriy Vaskov said that the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which allows Ukraine to export grain through ports in the Black Sea, is in a "