Shawdesh Desk:

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday accused Russia of “deliberately delaying” the export of grain from Ukrainian ports bound for countries in Africa and Asia.

“Today more than 150 ships are in a queue to fulfil contractual obligations for the supply of our agricultural products,” Zelensky said in a video address.

“This is an artificial queue. It arose only because Russia is deliberately delaying the passage of ships.”

He did not specify what was causing the queues but said Algeria, China, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia were among the countries affected by these delays.