Moscow has pressured the West to lift sanctions on Russia for the war in Ukraine, seeking to shift the blame for a growing food crisis that has been exacerbated by Kyiv’s inability to ship millions of tons of grain and other agricultural products due to conflict.
Britain immediately accused Russia of “trying to keep the world at bay”, insisting there would be no easing of sanctions, and a senior US diplomat criticized “pure barbarism, sadistic cruelty and illegality”. of the invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin told Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi that Moscow “is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food crisis by exporting grain and fertilizers on the condition that restrictions be lifted. political motives imposed by the West, “according to a report. Kremlin transcript of the call.
A Ukrainian agricultural worker walks next to corn seeds for future planting in a grain warehouse damaged by Russian tanks in Cherkska Lozova, Ukraine. The world is facing a severe food shortage due to the ongoing war. (Getty)
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but the Russian war and blockade of its ports has halted much of this flow, endangering the world’s food supply.
Many of these ports are now also heavily exploited.
Russia is also a major exporter of grain, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the West “must cancel illegal decisions that make it difficult to rent ships and export grain.”
His comments seemed to be an effort to group together the blockade of Ukraine’s exports with what Russia says are its difficulties in moving its own goods.
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Western officials have denied the allegations.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that food, fertilizer and seeds are exempt from US and many other sanctions, and that Washington is working to make sure countries know that flow of these goods will not be affected.
With the war in its fourth month, world leaders have increased calls for solutions.
World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said about 23 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain were stored and a further 23 million tonnes could be harvested next month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the lifting of the blockade on grain exports from Ukraine if the West lifts its sanctions on Russia. (AP)
European countries have tried to alleviate the crisis by moving grain out of the country by rail, but trains can only carry a small part of what Ukraine produces, and ships are needed for most exports.
At the same time, the Russian Ministry of Defense proposed corridors to allow foreign ships to leave the ports of the Black Sea, as well as Mariupol in the Sea of Azov.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Putin was “trying to keep the world afloat” by demanding that some sanctions be lifted before allowing Ukrainian grain shipments to resume.
“It is essentially hunger and food shortages among the world’s poorest people,” Truss said during a visit to Sarajevo.
“What we can’t have is a lifting of sanctions, no easing, which will simply make Putin stronger in the long run.”
On the battlefield, Russian forces continued to press their offensive in various parts of the eastern Donbas region, the Ukrainian military said.
That industrial core of coal mines and factories is now the focus of the struggle after Russia suffered a series of setbacks and moved to more limited targets.
An injured man is being transported on a stretcher after Russian bombing in Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine. (AP)
“The enemy is assaulting the position of our troops simultaneously in several directions,” said Ukrainian Defense Deputy Minister Hanna Maliar.
“We have an extremely difficult and long stage of struggle ahead.”
Ukrainian authorities say at least eight people were killed, including a five-month-old boy, and 17 were injured in bombings in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, while three were killed in the eastern city of Lysychansk. in the vicinity. key focus of the struggle.
Military officials said Russian forces continued to try to settle in the Sievierodonetsk area, the only part of the Luhansk region in the Donbass under the control of the Ukrainian government.