The fate of efforts to extend a UN-brokered agreement to allow exports of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea remained unclear on Thursday, with the deal set to expire on Sunday.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the deal would be extended for 60 days. But a United Nations spokesman disputed that, saying talks continue and no agreement had been reached.
The deal, which allows grain exports to leave three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea, is seen as key to stopping a rise in global food prices.
In the midst of the dispute, Russia again exported grain by ship from the occupied Ukrainian territories, which was been denounced by Ukraine as an illegal export of Ukrainian grain.
Wheat was exported via the port city of Berdyansk on the Sea of Azov, the Ukrainian general staff announced in its evening report on Thursday. A loaded Russian barge was guided out of the port by several tugboats.
Some 2 million tons of grain are due to be exported by ship and rail from the Russian-controlled part of the region. Half a million tons are planned for domestic consumption.
Large parts of the arable land in the Zaporizhzhya and Kherson regions in southern Ukraine were conquered by Russia more than a year ago. Since this is Ukrainian territory, Kiev argues, it misses out on important export revenues when Russia exports and sells the grain that is grown in Ukraine.
Apart from exported produce covered by the export deal, Russian warships have blocked shipping from Ukraine since the Kremlin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia has pressed for additional concessions in exchange for extending the deal.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a weekly press conference on Thursday that the deal would be extended for 60 days - shorter than the potential 120-day extension outlined in the deal.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric, however, said later on Thursday that talks about the extension were ongoing. He declined to say whether there was a request to change the agreement.
A change to the deal - including a new 60-day period - would have to be confirmed by all parties involved and cannot be announced unilaterally.
The agreement on the Black Sea Grain Initiative was initially reached under the mediation of the UN and Turkey in July.
Moscow complained that Western sanctions hinder the export of Russian food and fertilizer and wanted to make the extension conditional on the facilitation of export transactions, such bank payments, transport logistics and insurance.
Russia also wants to use a currently inactive pipeline for ammonia exports through Ukraine again.
