Good rainfall in April and a positive start to the spring sowing campaign have prompted Ukraine’s Economy Ministry to forecast a bumper grain crop of 75 million tonnes in 2021.

The buildup had spawned widespread speculation that the Kremlin was preparing a wide scale invasion. It already controls large parts of eastern Ukraine – the Donbass region – via proxies it supports militarily and financially.

An adviser to President Volodymyr Zelensky said negotiations were well under way for Ukraine to secure its next tranche of IMF credits in September.