Ukraine and Russia reach deal on Black Sea grain exports

Ukraine and Russia reached a deal on Friday that would allow grain exports from Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea to resume in order to ameliorate the global food shortage caused by the war, CNN reported. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called the agreement "a beacon of hope" after ministers from the two warring nations signed the deal in Istanbul.

The agreement was thrown into jeopardy the following day when Russian missiles reportedly struck the city of Odessa, one of the ports Russia had agreed to unblock.

The prospect of further negotiations between Russia and Ukraine remains hotly debated. The hawkish Max Boot argued in The Washington Post that the United States and other Western countries should send Ukraine more advanced weapons systems to propel Ukrainian forces to victory on the battlefield.

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On the other hand, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said Saturday that the European Union should adopt a new Ukraine strategy focusing on "peace talks and drafting a good peace proposal ... instead of winning the war." Sanctions, he argued, have simply not been effective enough in undermining Russia's will to fight, and European governments are falling "like dominoes" as rising energy prices take their toll.