Ukraine reportedly offers Russia deal to halt attacks on civilian Black Sea shipping
Ukraine has proposed through a third party that both sides stop attacking civilian ships in the Black Sea, aiming to revive the grain export corridor. Russia has not yet responded to the offer.
Ukraine has proposed a deal, relayed through a third party, under which it and Russia would both halt attacks on civilian vessels in the Black Sea, Reuters has reported. Moscow has not yet responded. The waterway is a vital export route for both countries, carrying grain and other food supplies to global markets.
Since July, Ukrainian drone strikes have effectively shut down the route for Russian commercial shipping, hitting nearly 220 vessels in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea, including oil tankers, grain carriers and passenger ferries. This has forced Russia to suspend shipping through a canal linking the Caspian Sea to the Sea of Azov via a Russian river network and the Kerch strait.
At the same time, Russia has intensified strikes on Ukraine's southern ports, dealing a heavy blow to its agricultural sector — around 90% of Ukraine's grain and sunflower shipments pass through Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenne. In July, Russian drones killed 10 crew members aboard the Turkish-owned grain ship Golden Leo shortly after it left Odesa, while another 16 port workers and sailors have died in separate attacks.
The offer comes as Ukraine's harvest season begins, with shipping from its ports nearly halted. It follows a report that US Vice-President JD Vance asked President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during a 31 July phone call to stop some strikes on Russia's Novorossiysk port, saying attacks on tankers carrying Kazakh oil were harming US companies. Since then, Ukraine has refrained from targeting ships carrying Kazakh oil but has continued hitting other targets in Novorossiysk.
On Wednesday, Zelenskyy announced a large combined strike on Novorossiysk that destroyed several Russian naval vessels, including two frigates, a landing ship and a corvette, along with two grain export terminals. Russian officials said three people, including a child, were killed.
The two countries previously signed a UN- and Turkey-brokered grain agreement that ran from July 2022 to July 2023, before Russia declined to renew it.
