Kremlin says it won't rejoin grain deal; Ukraine alleges deliberate plan to tank pact

July 25 (UPI) -- The Russian government said Tuesday it was "impossible" for it to return to a deal allowing the free shipment of grain from Ukraine amid the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, responding to comments by United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres criticizing Moscow's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, repeated assertions that the terms of the deal related to the export of Russian products were not being properly fulfilled.

"Indeed, Mr. Guterres' letter once again outlined a certain plan of action and a promise that one day it would be possible to fulfill the Russian part of these agreements," he said. "Unfortunately, at the moment it is impossible to return to this deal because it is not being implemented."

Peskov said Russian President Vladimir Putin has "made it clear that Russia is ready to immediately resume the deal as soon as it is executed."

Guterres said Monday that the termination of the grain deal would have far-reaching consequences under which "the most vulnerable will pay the highest price" as he urged Russia to return to the agreement.

The Russian government withdrew from the Initiative on July 17 and has since launched a series of sustained strikes on Ukrainian ports and grain storage facilities that have destroyed a total of 60,000 tons of grain that were slated for export, according to Ukrainian officials.

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry's Main Intelligence Department, the GUR, said Tuesday it obtained a document stating that Russia took actions, including targeting Ukrainian port infrastructure, as "part of a single pre-developed plan" to disrupt the agreement."

"In general, the text of the document is devoted to the techniques that were employed to impede the implementation of the grain initiative and ultimately led to the termination of the agreement," the GUR said.

According to the GUR, Russia was able to "effectively restrain the ships heading to Ukraine ports and significantly limited the volume of food exports from Ukraine, which in general prevented Kyiv from exporting about 20 million tons of cargo."

"The attempts by Ukrainians to use the Black Sea initiative to continue the so-called 'Grain from Ukraine' program with the involvement of ships chartered along the line of the World Food Program have been stopped. The registration for such vessels took place only after the submission of written commitments not to participate in such actions," the document stated, according to the GUR.

Britain's ambassador to the United Nations, Barbera Woodward, said Tuesday that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak shared intelligence with his Ukrainian counterparts suggesting Russia may expand its targeting of exports to civilian shipping.

"The Russian military may expand their targeting of Ukrainian grain facilities further, to include attacks against civilians shipping in the Black Sea. Our information also indicates that Russia has laid additional sea mines in the approaches to Ukrainian ports. We agree with the U.S. assessment that this is a coordinated effort to justify and lay blame on Ukraine for any attacks against civilian ships in the Black Sea," Woodward said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he spoke with Sunak about Russian attacks against the port city of Odessa.