July 17, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

The United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “deeply disappointed” that his proposals to address obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer products went “unheeded, and expressed “regret” that Moscow decided to withdraw from the grain deal.

Guterres explained the agreement had helped lower food prices by more than 23% since the beginning of the war.

“Ultimately, participation in these agreements is a choice, but struggling people everywhere and developing countries don't have a choice,” he said. “Hundreds of millions of people face hunger and consumers are confronting a global cost of living crisis and they will pay the price.”

“In the US we are already seeing a jump in wheat prices this morning,” he added.

Guterres concluded by saying he was aware certain obstacles had “remained in the foreign trade of Russian food and fertilizer products,” but said he had written a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin outlining solutions to those hurdles, as well as the benefits Russia had reaped from the deal. 

Guterres said that despite today's decision, the UN "will not stop our efforts to facilitate the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilizers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation, I particularly want to recognize the efforts of the government of Turkey in this regard.”

Wheat and corn prices on global commodities markets jumped Monday after Russia pulled out of a crucial deal allowing the export of grain from Ukraine. The collapse of the pact threatens to push up food prices for consumers worldwide and tip millions into hunger.

The White House warned that Russia’s decision “will worsen food insecurity and harm millions of vulnerable people around the world.”

“The Black Sea Grain Initiative has been critical to bringing down food prices around the world, which spiked as a result of Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine,” Adam Hodge, a spokesperson for the US National Security Council, said in a statement.

The Black Sea deal — originally brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in a year ago — ensured the safe passage of ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports. So far the deal has allowed for the export of almost 33 million metric tons of food through Ukrainian ports, according to UN data.

The collapse of the deal is likely to have repercussions far beyond the region.

Before the war, Ukraine was the fifth-largest wheat exporter globally, accounting for 10% of exports, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Read the full story here and learn more about the deal below:

CNN's Rob Picheta, Hanna Ziady, Mick Krever, Anna Chernova and Priscilla Alvarez contributed reporting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said “everything” must be done to ensure his country can use the Black Sea to export grain after Russia announced it was pulling out of a UN-brokered deal. 

“Even without Russia, we must do everything possible so that we can use this Black Sea corridor,” he said according to his spokesperson Sergiy Nykyforov. 

Zelensky went on to suggest Ukraine could continue grain exports without Russian support. 

“We are not afraid. We have been approached by companies who own vessels,” he explained. “They said they are ready to continue grain deliveries if Ukraine ships out and Turkey lets them through.”

In withdrawing from the pact, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that its government was removing guarantees for safe navigation in the Black Sea.

There are alternative routes for Ukrainian grain and oilseed exports by rail through eastern Europe, but they can’t readily cope with the volume that Ukraine wants to export.

“I have instructed our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the official signal from the Russian Federation, to prepare our official signals to the United Nations and to Turkey so that they can answer back to me as to the President of Ukraine that they are ready to continue our initiative,” Zelensky added. 

CNN's Rob Picheta, Mick Krever and Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

The White House warned Monday that Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Ukraine grain deal “will worsen food insecurity and harm millions of vulnerable people around the world” and urged Russia to “immediately reverse its decision.”  

The Russian government on Monday said that it is allowing a deal, known as the Black Sea Grain Initiative, that allows the export of Ukrainian grain to expire. The agreement, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July 2022, is officially set to expire on Monday afternoon. The deal allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports and navigate safe passage through the Black Sea, to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait.

“More than half of the 32 million metric tons of grain and foodstuffs shipped through the Initiative has gone to developing countries, including some of the most food insecure regions of the globe. And every shipment under the Initiative has contributed to reducing hardship in the world’s poorest countries, since bringing grain to world markets lowers food prices for all,” Hodge said.

Some context: The rate of exports made under the deal had started to tail off in recent months; UN figures show that May and June were the two months with the fewest metric tons exported since August 2022.

“Preventing this grain from getting to markets will harm people around the world, and indeed we are already seeing a spike in global wheat prices as a result of Russia suspending its participation in the Initiative. We urge the Government of Russia to immediately reverse its decision,” he added.

The supports of the Kerch straight bridge, linking Russia to Crimea, were not damaged by Monday’s blast, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin said.

"According to a preliminary assessment, the supports of the Crimean bridge were not damaged," Khusnullin told Russian journalists on Monday. 

Divers are currently completing the inspection of the bridge and the decision on the possibility of launching car traffic will be made within two hours, he added.

Some background: A source from Ukraine's security service (SBU) said the attack on the Kerch Bridge, which killed a couple and injured their daughter, was a joint operation of the SBU and Ukraine's naval forces.

The $3.7 billion Kerch Bridge is strategically important because it links Russia’s Krasnodar region with the Crimean Peninsula, which was illegally annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014. It was the physical expression of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s objective to take over Ukraine and bind it to Russia forever. 

The key Crimean Bridge linking the annexed peninsula to Russia was hit by two strikes early Monday. According to a source, Ukraine's security service and naval forces carried out the attack, which left two people dead.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin is allowing the Black Sea grain deal to expire — a move fiercely criticized by Western leaders.

Here are the latest developments:

Bridge attack:

The grain deal:

Elsewhere:

In withdrawing from the Black Sean Grain Initiative, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday that its government was removing guarantees for safe navigation in the Black Sea. 

The Foreign Ministry said that the Russian government objects to the further extension of the deal and officially informed the Turkish and Ukrainian sides on Monday, adding that the UN secretariat was also notified.

"Contrary to the declared humanitarian goals, the export of Ukrainian food was almost immediately transferred to a purely commercial basis and until the last moment was aimed at serving the narrowly selfish interests" of Kyiv and the West, the statement read, using the Russian name for the Ukrainian capital.

The ministry also stressed that the Russia-UN Memorandum did not function as planned. "We are forced to state that none of the five systemic tasks envisaged by the Russia-UN Memorandum have been fulfilled," the statement read.

According to the ministry, Russia would be ready to consider restoring the "deal" only if the West fulfills its obligations and actually withdraws Russian fertilizers and food from the sanctions. 

What the UN says: A United Nations official has confirmed to CNN that the UN office in Istanbul, Turkey, has received written notice from Russia that they are ending participation in the Ukraine grain deal.

“The Secretary-General will not stop his efforts to facilitate the unimpeded access to global markets for food products and fertilizers from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation to preserve global food security,” the UN official said.

CNN's Alex Marquardt in Odesa, Ukraine contributed to this report.

The UK has imposed 14 new sanctions on Russian individuals in response to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children, according to a statement from the UK’s Foreign office.

The sanctions were enacted against officials including Ksenia Mishonova, commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Moscow Region, and Sergey Kravtsov, minister of education of Russia.

The UK’s Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, said Monday: “In his chilling program of forced child deportation, and the hate-filled propaganda spewed by his lackeys, we see Putin’s true intention — to wipe Ukraine from the map."

“Today’s sanctions hold those who prop up Putin’s regime to account, including those who would see Ukraine destroyed, its national identity dissolved, and its future erased,” Cleverly added.

The cost of wheat rose 3% to $6.80 a bushel, following the Russian government's announcement that it is terminating the Black Sea grain deal with Ukraine.

The benchmark wheat contract — the contract for a particular product that most traders of that item will look to in order to price their own contracts — hiked early Monday, according to the Chicago Board of Trade.

Futures prices are still down 52% from their all-time high hit in early March 2022.

The agreement brokered by the United Nations and Turkey with Moscow and Kyiv in June 2022 allowed for the safe passage of grain exports from southern Ukraine into the global market.