Ukraine is working on a “UN-led naval operation” with partner countries’ navies to secure a safe trade route for exports of its agricultural products, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday.
“Ukraine is working on an international operation led by the United Nations with fleets of partners providing a safe trade route without security risks,” Kuleba wrote on Twitter, without providing further details about the operation.
In the tweet, the foreign minister accused Russia of playing “hunger games with the world by blocking the export of Ukrainian food with one hand and trying to shift the blame on Ukraine with the other.”
During a telephone conversation Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky that Ankara attaches “special importance” to efforts to establish a safe corridor for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products by sea, according to a Turkish report.
As for Moscow’s co-operation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said earlier on Tuesday that if Ukraine cleared its coastal waters of mines, Russia’s navy would ensure the passage of grain ships to the Mediterranean.
Background: On Friday, Zelensky said 22 million tonnes of grain, which accounts for almost half of Ukraine’s grain exports, is being held back by Russia’s blockade of major export routes across the Black and Azov Seas.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied allegations that it has blocked grain supplies from Ukraine and blamed the West for actions that led to the crisis.
With previous reports by CNN’s Isil Sarijuje, Anna Chernova and Anastasia Graham-Yul
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