Türkiye on Friday said parties of the Black Sea initiative allowing grain exports from Ukraine via the Black Sea following the Russian invasion were nearing an agreement on an extension of the pact.

The U.N. and Türkiye brokered the agreement in July last year to help tackle a global food crisis that has been worsened by Moscow's war in Ukraine. At the same time, the U.N. agreed to help Moscow facilitate its own agricultural shipments.

The deal is due to expire next Thursday.

"(The parties) are approaching an agreement on an extension of the grain agreement period," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said in a statement.

Akar was referring to two-day talks in Istanbul this week between officials from Türkiye, Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations.

The minister asserted that progress was made and that the parties agreed to continue four-way technical meetings on the deal.

On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said he thought the deal could be extended for at least two more months.

In addition to the longer extension of the deal, the meeting focused on a United Nations proposal to resume Russia's ammonia exports along the Togliatti-Odessa pipeline, the U.N. said in a statement.

Ammonia is a core component of fertilizer, whose export Russia accuses the West of blocking in violation of past deals.

Moscow threatened to quit the agreement on May 18 over obstacles to its grain and fertilizer exports.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said after the talks on Thursday that the grain deal should be extended for a longer period and expanded. He said the talks would continue online.

NATO member Türkiye, which has good ties with Russia and Ukraine, has pushed both countries to resume peace talks after negotiations broke down last year.

More than 30 million tons of grain and agricultural products have been exported under the initiative to date, including nearly 600,000 metric tons of grain in World Food Programme (WFP) vessels for aid operations in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.

"What does this mean?" asked Akar. "It means preventing hunger and maintaining stability."

Akar also said he had been told that an agreement was reached on the return to Türkiye of six Turkish merchant vessels currently in Ukrainian ports.

In March, the grain agreement was renewed for 60 days instead of the 120 days sought by Ukraine, after Russia laid down a number of conditions, including the right to export fertilizer.

There are no sanctions on Russian exports of food and fertilizers to global markets, but secondary sanctions imposed on banks, shipping and insurance companies have blocked Russian sales.

Russian officials say they have not seen progress on the second part of the agreement that concerns its own exports.

"Let me be clear, Russia is exporting just fine. It is exporting grain and fertilizer at the same levels, if not higher, than before the full-scale invasion (of Ukraine)," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield told reporters.

Another key Russian demand is returning access to the SWIFT payment system for the Russian Agricultural Bank, known as Rosselkhozbank, which was cut off by the European Union in June over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

As an alternative, the United Nations proposed other banks could help process payments. Reuters has reported that JPMorgan has processed the first payments for the Russian Agricultural Bank and could process dozens more, however, Moscow has said this is not a long-term fix.

The Kremlin said early on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin could speak with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at short notice if needed regarding an extension of the deal but that there were no such plans yet.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin, speaking to Russian media in Istanbul, said that if Russia's demands remained unresolved, then the Black Sea deal would "cease its existence." He specifically cited SWIFT access.

Officials from Russia, Ukraine, Türkiye and the U.N. make up a Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul, which implements the deal. They authorize and inspect ships. No new vessels have been authorized by the JCC since Thursday.

The United States and Britain on Tuesday pressed Russia to extend again the deal, accusing Moscow of exploiting global hunger for an advantage in the war.

"In recent days, Russia has once again returned to blocking ships from sailing to Ukraine's ports to pick up the grain, in a cynical action that directly results in less food getting to global markets and to human beings in Africa, the Middle East and around the world," U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Blinken's remarks were echoed by Thomas-Greenfield, who said: "This is Russia once again weaponizing food."

"They're holding vulnerable and hungry people in Africa, the Middle East and around the world hostage."