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On Friday, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, and Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov signed a grain deal mediated by the United Nations in Istanbul.

"The Secretary-General is the witness of the Black Sea initiative, we expect to see the defense minister of the Russian Federation, defense minister of Turkey, and the infrastructure minister of Ukraine are signing the deal," a senior UN official told a briefing before the signing of the deal.

The Ukrainian side will have control over the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny, from which grain exports will be organized, according to the agreements. Aside from that, no ships other than those exporting grain and related food products and fertilizers will be permitted to dock at these ports.

Earlier today, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Dmitriy Polyanskiy stressed during a General Assembly meeting that the United States every day plunders Syrian hydrocarbons and grain in the territory not controlled by Damascus, which is occupied by pro-American militants in the northeast of the country, RIA Novosti reported.

Polyanskiy explained that "the only zones not controlled by the Syrian government are still only the Trans-Euphrates, where the American occupiers plunder grain and hydrocarbon resources on a daily basis, and the Idlib de-escalation zone in the north-west of the country, occupied by internationally recognized terrorists from Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham."

Yesterday, it was announced that Ukraine and Russia will finalize a deal on Friday that will allow grain to begin flowing across the Black Sea, easing the current global food crisis, according to the Turkish Presidency.

"The signing ceremony of the grain shipment agreement, in which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will be present, will be held (Friday) with the participation of Ukraine and Russia," the Turkish leader's office said.