With two days left until the latest agreement on the Black Sea Initiative expires, the parties involved seem increasingly hesitant and skeptical about a possible renewal. "In general, contacts continue. There are many questions regarding our part of the agreement. Now a decision has to be made", said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov .

Meanwhile, on the Ukrainian front, serious consideration is being given to breaking the wheat deal. "The overall situation hasn't changed much and we receive rather conflicting information about the grain deal and the possibility of its continuation," Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Special Ambassador Olga Trofimtseva said for her part. The reference is probably to the intransigent line of the Kremlin which continues to ask for the removal of the limits on the export of Russian cereals and fertilisers. Moreover, at this stage, Turkey's mediating role is inevitably weakened by the electoral campaign for the presidential elections, in which, for the first time in years, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan risks defeat.

Just yesterday, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani had sounded the alarm: failure to renew the agreement would particularly damage African countries, the main buyers of Ukrainian wheat, stimulating massive immigration of those populations to Europe (read news EFA News).