Pope urges Russia to revive Black Sea Grain Initiative

Pope Francis "appealed to the brothers in the Russian government" over the grain deal and called for the restoration of Russia's participation in it, Vatican News has reported.

The Pontiff also condemned the massive air strikes on Ukrainian grain infrastructure in ports and stressed that it is a sin to destroy grain.

We do not stop praying for Ukraine, where war destroys everything, also grain. This is a grave offence to God, because grain is His gift to feed mankind. And the cries of brothers and sisters suffering from hunger are raised to heaven," he said during Sunday prayers.

Recall, 17 July, Russia announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea grain initiative. It said that it would not give guarantees of non-aggression against civilian ships after this date and after that started shelling Ukrainian ports. Russia then began intensively shelling Ukrainian ports and port infrastructure. During this time, it destroyed 26 port facilities.

During one of these attacks, Russia destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain in the port of Chernomorsk.