The two-day-long annual summit between the leaders of African nations and Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded in St. Petersburg. Without signaling the resumption of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Putin pledged to supply Africa with grain and fight against ‘neo-colonialism’.
Ukraine requires additional air defense systems to protect the grain corridor in the Black Sea and Odesa region from Russian attacks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at the second international summit "Grain from Ukraine" in Kyiv.
Russia conducted a drone attack on a Ukrainian grain exporting port located in the Odesa region on the Danube River. Ukrainian officials said that the attacks caused infrastructural damage and at least two people were injured.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on September 4, 2023, in the Russian city of Sochi. The two leaders discussed the possibility of reviving the Black Sea Grain Initiative after Moscow backed out of it in July earlier this year.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg convened the second NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on July 26, 2023. The meeting was called to address the serious security situation in the Black Sea. NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoana chaired the council meeting.
The United States Department of Defense announced a new military aid package for Ukraine valued at up to $400 million. The latest package consists of additional air defense missiles, armored vehicles, anti-aircraft and anti-armor rockets, and small surveillance drones.
Russian Navy conducted a live-fire naval exercise in the northwestern part of the Black Sea on July 21, 2023. The exercise comes days after Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and announced that it would consider ships traveling to Ukraine’s Black Sea ports as potential military targets.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in Islamabad for a two-day visit on July 20, 2023, to discuss cooperation on diverse areas with his counterpart in Pakistan. This is the first time that a Ukrainian foreign minister is visiting Pakistan in 30 years.
Russia said that it was withdrawing from the UN-brokered agreement to allow grain exports from Ukraine through the Black Sea until its demands to loosen sanctions on its own agricultural exports were met. The wartime deal allowed grain to flow from Ukrainian ports to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.
The United Kingdom and Turkish defense ministers have signed an agreement to bolster collaboration on defense and security initiatives. The two NATO Allies have agreed to work more closely together during the meeting of defense ministers in Ankara, Turkiye, on November 23, 2023.
