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.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Modern Age, The American Conservative, The Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.
-
World’s oldest rock art discovered in IndonesiaUnder the Radar Ancient handprint on Sulawesi cave wall suggests complexity of thought, challenging long-held belief that human intelligence erupted in Europe
-
Claude Code: the viral AI coding app making a splash in techThe Explainer Engineers and noncoders alike are helping the app go viral
-
‘Human trafficking isn’t something that happens “somewhere else”’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
What is ‘Arctic Sentry’ and will it deter Russia and China?Today’s Big Question Nato considers joint operation and intelligence sharing in Arctic region, in face of Trump’s threats to seize Greenland for ‘protection’
-
What would a UK deployment to Ukraine look like?Today's Big Question Security agreement commits British and French forces in event of ceasefire
-
Would Europe defend Greenland from US aggression?Today’s Big Question ‘Mildness’ of EU pushback against Trump provocation ‘illustrates the bind Europe finds itself in’
-
Did Trump just end the US-Europe alliance?Today's Big Question New US national security policy drops ‘grenade’ on Europe and should serve as ‘the mother of all wake-up calls’
-
Is conscription the answer to Europe’s security woes?Today's Big Question How best to boost troop numbers to deal with Russian threat is ‘prompting fierce and soul-searching debates’
-
Trump peace deal: an offer Zelenskyy can’t refuse?Today’s Big Question ‘Unpalatable’ US plan may strengthen embattled Ukrainian president at home
-
Vladimir Putin’s ‘nuclear tsunami’ missileThe Explainer Russian president has boasted that there is no way to intercept the new weapon
-
The Baltic ‘bog belt’ plan to protect Europe from RussiaUnder the Radar Reviving lost wetland on Nato’s eastern flank would fuse ‘two European priorities that increasingly compete for attention and funding: defence and climate’
