On Monday, Russia announced that it would no longer be part of the crucial UN-brokered Black Sea deal, which allowed export of grains from Ukraine, setting off alarm bells for countries around the world and raising fears of a global food crisis.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia was suspending the grain deal over what it called a failure to meet its demands to implement a parallel agreement easing rules for its own food and fertilizer exports. “Unfortunately, the part of these Black Sea agreements concerning Russia has not been implemented so far, so its effect is terminated.”

Moscow and Kyiv had agreed to a deal, brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022, months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, taking over and blocking access to maritime ports.

The deal, which was set to expire on Monday unless Russia agreed to extend it, allowed safe passage to grain-carrying ships in the Black Sea, amid Russian occupation of major Black Sea ports, through the Bosphorus Strait in Turkey.

While Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to withdraw from the deal on several occasions, Monday’s announcement came hours after a blast knocked out Russia’s bridge to Crimea, which Moscow called a strike by Ukrainian sea drones. However, the Kremlin said there was no link between the two.

Russia has argued that its own exports have suffered and that the key objective of the deal—exporting foodgrains to countries in need—remains unfulfilled.

“As soon as the Russian part is completed, the Russian side will return to the implementation of this deal immediately,” Peskov was quoted as saying.

Ukraine, referred to as the world’s breadbasket, exports a majority of the grain it produces. Countries globally are heavily reliant on Ukrainian exports to meet their consumption needs.

The war-hit country accounts for “10% of the world wheat market, 13% of the barley market, 15% of the maize market, and is the most important player in the market for sunflower oil (over 50% of world trade),” according to the European Commission. Ukraine is also a major supplier to the World Food Programme. As a result, the Black Sea deal was vital to regulate food prices amid fears of shortage due to the war.

According to UN data, the Black Sea grain initiative resulted in nearly 33 million tonnes of grain exports, under which 725,000 tonnes were humanitarian shipments under the WFP to countries in need. WFP sent the most shipments to Ethiopia, Yemen and Afghanistan. India received over 585,000 tonnes of exports from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was optimistic that the country would resume grain exports with support from Turkey and the UN, negating the blockade by Russia, “Even without the Russian Federation, everything must be done so that we can use this Black Sea corridor. We are not afraid,” he was quoted as saying in remarks by his press office.

Ukrainian grain and oilseeds can be exported to Europe via railways but those cannot handle the volume that it currently exports by sea. Additionally Ukraine’s railways have a different gauge than the rest of Europe, which means that each load of grains would have to be transferred from Ukrainian wagons to others at the border, a major logistical challenge.

“We were approached by companies, shipowners. They said that they are ready, if Ukraine lets them go, and Turkey continues to let them through, then everyone is ready to continue supplying grain,” spokesperson Serhiy Nykyforov quoted Zelenskyy as saying.