<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called Monday for the extension of a landmark deal that allows grain from Ukraine to reach the global market, which is set to expire soon.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a phone call, the two leaders "called for the grain agreement under the aegis of the United Nations to be extended beyond July 17", the chancellor's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The deal, brokered by the UN a year ago and renewed on several occasions since then, "is helping to improve the global food situation", he added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Concern about the deal has grown after Russian President Vladimir Putin said last month that he was "thinking about" exiting the agreement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow has repeatedly threatened to pull out of the accord that grants safe passage for Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea, demanding guarantees for Russian fertiliser exports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A parallel agreement between Moscow and the UN aims to facilitate exports of Russian food and fertilisers, which are exempt from Western sanctions imposed on Moscow, but Russia claims this deal is not being upheld.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's envoy to the UN in Geneva said earlier Monday that there were currently no grounds to maintain the "status quo" of the deal.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Western capitals were blocking progress on reconnecting the Russian Agricultural Bank to the SWIFT banking system, Gennady Gatilov told the state-backed Izvestia newspaper.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"What we are seeing now does not give us grounds to agree to maintaining the status quo" on the deal, he said in the interview.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 saw Ukraine's Black Sea ports blocked by warships until the deal, signed in July 2022, allowed for the passage of critical grain exports.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine was one of the world's top grain producers, and the deal has helped soothe the global food crunch triggered by the conflict.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Some 32.4 million tonnes have been exported so far under the agreement, according to the UN. Just over half of the exports have been corn, while more than a quarter was wheat.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The initial 120-day agreement struck with the UN and Turkey last July has been extended three times: in November, March and in May. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>