KIEV, November 18. /TASS/. Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on Thursday discussed over phone with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres the grain deal, which has been extended for 120 days.

"During my conversation with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, I thanked him for his leadership in continuing the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.

In addition, he expressed gratitude to Guterres for his support of the Ukrainian humanitarian food initiative called Grain From Ukraine. Zelensky presented this program, speaking by video link to the participants of the G20 summit. According to it, the countries which will support the initiative will directly buy food from Ukrainian producers and then hand them over to the countries on the verge of starvation. Kiev believes that the international partners will simultaneously support the Ukrainian economy and help poor countries in Africa.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that the grain deal was extended for 120 days. The Russian Foreign Ministry explained that it was automatically extended due to the absence of objections from the parties involved in the deal (Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN). Guterres welcomed the decision and said the UN was "fully committed to removing the remaining obstacles to food and fertilizer exports from Russia".

The agreements on the export of food from Ukraine were concluded on July 22 for a period of 120 days. One of the agreements regulating grain exports from the Kiev-controlled ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny is valid until November 19, while the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) established by Russia, the UN, Ukraine and Turkey is designed to conduct vessel inspections to prevent weapons smuggling or any provocations. The latter was signed by Russia, Turkey and the UN and separately by Ukraine, Turkey and the UN.