Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy played down the significance of his country’s first grain export shipment since Russia invaded, saying it carried a fraction of the crop that Kyiv must sell to help save its shattered economy
His nasty comments, via video to students in Australia on Wednesday, came as an inspection of the ship was completed in Turkey before it continued to its final destination in Lebanon under a deal aimed at easing a global food crisis.
The ship, Razoni, left Ukraine’s Odesa port on the Black Sea early Monday, carrying 26,527 tons of corn to Tripoli, Lebanon. It followed a UN-brokered grain and fertilizer export deal between Moscow and Kyiv last month, a rare diplomatic breakthrough in a long war of attrition.
But Zelenskyy, speaking through an interpreter, said more time was needed to see if other grain shipments would follow.
LOOK | Ukraine grain ship heads to Lebanon after Istanbul inspection:
Ukrainian grain ship heads to Lebanon after Istanbul inspection
The first grain ship to leave Ukraine since the war began underwent a multi-party inspection in Istanbul on Wednesday and then proceeded through the Bosphorus Strait, bound for Lebanon.
“Recently, thanks to the UN in collaboration with Turkey, we had a first ship with the delivery of grain, but it’s still nothing. But we hope it’s a trend that will continue,” he told the students.
He said Ukraine needed to export at least 10 million tons of grain to urgently help reduce its budget deficit, which was running at $5 billion a month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appears on screen at the Australian National University in Canberra as he hosted his online discussion with the country’s 21 universities on Wednesday. (Tracey Nearmy/Australian National University/Associated Press)
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken welcomed the first shipment of grain, but also said it was “just a first step”.
A senior Turkish official said three ships could leave Ukrainian ports daily after the departure of the Razoni, while Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said another 17 ships had been loaded with agricultural products and were waiting to set sail
The war “almost killed the economy”
Known as the breadbasket of Europe, Ukraine expects to export 20 million tons of grain in silos and 40 million tons of the current crop, initially from Odesa and nearby Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk.
“The war… is almost killing the economy. It is in a coma,” Zelenskyy added. “The blockade of the ports by Russia is a great loss for the economy.
Zelenskyy has repeatedly warned that Moscow may try to block exports despite signing the deal last month.
Schroeder says Kremlin wants ‘negotiated solution’
Russia, which blockaded Ukraine’s ports after launching what it called a “special military operation” on February 24, has said it wants more done to facilitate exports of its own grain and fertilizer. But he hailed the departure of Ukraine’s first grain ship as positive.
He has denied responsibility for the food crisis, saying sanctions from the West, which he views the war as an unprovoked imperial-style Russian land grab, have slowed Ukraine’s exports.
Exports from Ukraine, one of the world’s top grain producers, are aimed at easing rising prices and shortages, with famine looming in some parts of the world.
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the grain deal could offer a way out of the conflict.
“The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” Schroeder told German weekly Stern and broadcasters RTL/ntv, adding that he had met Putin in Moscow last week.
“A first success is the grain agreement, perhaps that can be slowly extended to a ceasefire.”
Supermarket, other businesses hit Mykolaiv
Meanwhile, Russian forces continued to shell the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, shelling it on Tuesday night and before dawn on Wednesday, Mykolaiv Region Governor Vitaliy Kim said.
LOOK | People rescuing what remains after the strikes in Mykolaiv:
Residents recover what is left after the strikes in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
The explosions destroyed a supermarket and a residential building in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, leaving locals scrambling through the rubble for what remains of their homes. The city’s mayor claimed the strikes were from Russia.
The bombing damaged a dock, an industrial company, residential buildings, a garage cooperative, a supermarket and a pharmacy, Kim said.
Mykolaiv is a port city on the southern Black Sea. The Russians said in April that they wanted to control not only eastern but also southern Ukraine, cutting the country off from its Black Sea coast and creating a potential land corridor to Moldova’s breakaway region of Transnistria .
Mykolaiv Mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych told The Associated Press that 131 civilians, including a child, have so far been killed in the city by Russian rocket and artillery shelling and 590 others were seriously injured, including seven children .