A DEAL allowing the export of grain from Ukraine to countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia was prolonged for 60 days at the  weekend, but the International Rescue Committee said it was “disappointed” that the extension was not longer.

Hunger is a growing threat and high food prices are pushing more people into poverty in the global South.

The United Nations and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the extension on Saturday, but neither confirmed how long it would last.

The UN, Turkey and Ukraine had pushed for 120 days, while Russia had said that it was willing to agree to 60 days.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted that the deal would remain in effect for four months, but Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the  Tass news agency that Moscow had “agreed to extend the deal for 60 days.”

Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyansky added: “Any claim that it’s prolonged for more than 60 days is either wishful thinking or deliberate manipulation.”

Ukraine and Russia are both major global suppliers of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food products that developing nations depend on.

The International Rescue Committee warned that countries in East Africa in particular will be entering the lean grain season when the deal expires in May. Among the countries is Somalia, which receives over 90 per cent of its grain from Ukraine, is beset by unprecedented drought and teetering on the verge of famine.

Russian UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the UN security council on Friday that the world body had to recognise that it had “no leverage to exempt Russian agricultural export operations from Western sanctions,” so Moscow would only extend the deal until May 18.

The grain crisis has left an estimated 345 million people facing food insecurity, according to the UN World Food Programme.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Black Sea port of Mariupol yesterday, making his first trip to territory annexed from Ukraine in September.

Speaking to state news agency RIA yesterday, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnulin asserted that Russia was in Mariupol to stay.

“People have started to return. When they saw that reconstruction is under way, people started actively returning,” he said.

The visits were a show of defiance by the Russian leader, two days after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.

The trip also took place in the run-up to a planned visit to Moscow by Chinese President Xi Jinping this week.