U.N. chief Guterres to visit Ukraine amid concern over renewal of grain export deal with Russia

United Nations — U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was expected to arrive Tuesday for an unannounced visit to Ukraine's capital Kyiv, hoping to shore-up the deal struck between Ukraine and Russia last year to allow for the export of grain from both countries. The agreement, negotiated and implemented by the U.N. and Turkey, must be renewed by March 18, but there's concern Russia may decline to keep it going.

Guterres only announced his brief visit to Kyiv after arriving earlier Tuesday in neighboring Poland. He was expected to be in Ukraine for only about a day before returning to U.N. Headquarters in New York.

Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the secretary-general would "discuss the continuation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in all its aspects, as well as other pertinent issues," with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Wednesday morning.