Ukraine is working on a “UN-led naval operation” with navies from partner countries to ensure a safe trade route for the export of its agricultural products, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday. .
“Ukraine is working on a UN-led international operation with partner navies guaranteeing a safe trade route without security risks,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter, without providing further details about the operation.
In the tweet, the Foreign Minister blamed Russia for playing “hunger games with the world by blocking Ukrainian food exports with one hand and trying to shift the blame to Ukraine with the other.”
During a phone call on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky that Ankara attaches “special importance” to efforts to establish a safe corridor for exporting Ukrainian agricultural products by sea, according to a Turkish reading of the call. .
With regard to Moscow’s cooperation on Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that if Ukraine cleans its coastal waters from mines, Russian naval forces will ensure the passage of grain ships to the sea. Mediterranean.
More information: On Friday, Zelensky said that 22 million tons of grain, which account for almost half of Ukraine’s grain export supply, are being hampered by Russia’s blockade of major export routes across the sea. Black and the Sea of Azov.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied allegations that it has blocked the supply of grain to Ukraine and has accused the West of actions that have led to the crisis.
With previous reports from Isil Sariyuce, Anna Chernova and CNN’s Anastasia Graham-Yooll