Germany flays Russia for not extending Black Sea grain deal, attacks on Ukraine's port city of Odesa

​​​​​​​By Timo Kirez

GENEVA (AA) – Germany's foreign minister on Wednesday criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for suspending the Black Sea grain agreement and attacking the Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

"Putin not only blew up the Black Sea grain export agreement. Now, for the second night in a row, he is covering the port city of Odesa in a hail of bombs," Annalena Baerbock wrote on Twitter.

With the latest attacks, Putin is "robbing the world of any hope for Ukrainian grain," Baerbock alleged, adding that "Each of his bombs also hits the poorest people in the world."

The German foreign minister went on to write that she wants to help Ukraine find alternative grain routes. This could succeed with the help of the EU by ship, rail, or road, according to the Green politician.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow had not extended the agreement to export grain from Ukraine via the Black Sea because that part of the deal involving Russia had not been fulfilled.

He added that as soon as this part of the agreement is met, Moscow will immediately "return to the implementation of this agreement."

Later that day, German government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann told a news conference in Berlin that her country "continues to appeal to Russia to allow for a further extension of the grain agreement and not to carry out this dispute on the backs of the world's poorest."

The agreement, signed last July in Istanbul by Turkey, the United Nations, Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports. Those exports had been halted as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian war that began in February 2022.

On May 18, the agreement was extended for another 60 days, allowing grain exports to continue under the agreement.