Ukraine and Russia began talks with UN diplomats and Turkey in Istanbul on Wednesday, 13th (13) to try to lift the blockade on grain exports over the Black Sea, which has increased prices and risked famine in many countries.
Talks between the four sides, including Russians and Ukrainians, since the first on March 29, began at 14:15 (08:15 GMT), and are trying to establish safe corridors in the Black Sea, a Turkish official told AFP. .
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat and other grains. About 20 million tons of grain are currently blocked in ports in the Odessa region due to the presence of Russian warships and mines laid by Kyiv to defend its shores.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was relatively confident of the positive results of this meeting.
“We are two steps away from reaching an agreement with Russia,” Kuleba said. “If they really want it, grain exports will start soon,” he added.
But Kuleba suspects that Russia is blocking these shipments to deprive Ukraine of resources: “You know, if we export, we will generate income from international markets and that will make us stronger,” he said.
Turkey, a NATO member and an ally on both sides of the conflict, says it has 20 merchant ships waiting in the Black Sea that can be quickly loaded with Ukrainian grain.
bombings in the south
The Istanbul meeting will be held in Tehran next week between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the tripartite summit on Iran and Syria.
Erdogan’s aim is to bring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the negotiating table, but for now the situation on the ground does not allow it.
Ukraine awaits a new Russian offensive in the Donetsk region, which is part of Donbass and has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
The other province of Donbass is Lugansk, which Russian forces claim to be under their complete control.
The Russian military has not launched a major offensive since it smashed the last strongholds of Ukrainian resistance in Lugansk earlier this month.
However, Russian bombings at a residential building in Chasiv Yar in the same area on Sunday left at least 45 dead, according to the latest Ukrainian security assessment.
In Bakhmut, another Donetsk city, artillery fire was heard in the almost deserted center of the city on Tuesday.
“You can’t escape war,” sums up 60-year-old agricultural engineer Liubov Mokhaieva.
On the southern front, Ukraine said between Monday and Tuesday it struck Russian forces at Nova Kakhovka, killing 52 soldiers and destroying an ammunition depot.
Occupation officials commissioned by Moscow condemned the attack as an “act of terror” in which houses were destroyed.
Also in the south, in Mykolaiv, a Russian attack destroyed a building and killed at least five civilians, said Kiril Tymoshenko, vice-president of the presidential administration.
US and EU aid
In the context of the war, the US accused Iran of sending “hundreds of drones” to Russia, Moscow declined to comment on Wednesday.
Iran reacted to these statements on Tuesday, saying there was “no specific development” in technological cooperation between Tehran and Moscow.
Drones play a crucial role in conflicts between the Russian army and Ukrainian forces, detecting targets for artillery fire, performing reconnaissance missions and launching attacks.
Washington announced on Tuesday that it will allocate an additional $1.7 billion in aid to Ukraine.
This brings the total US aid to Ukraine since the beginning of the war to $4 billion.
In Brussels, the finance ministers of the European Union (EU) countries approved 1 billion euros for Ukraine, increasing its contribution to Kiev to 2.2 billion euros since February 24, when Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine.
source: Noticias
[author_name]
