Kuleba commented on Lavrov's visit to Turkey/Channel 24 Collage
The visit of Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov to Turkey is not directly related to the “grain” issue. This will be a general bilateral meeting where various topics will be discussed. It was planned in advance.
The meeting between Russia and Turkey will not concern Ukrainian grain
Given this, representatives of Ukraine will not be there . Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba spoke about this at a closed briefing for journalists on June 8.
The Ukrainian minister noted that everyone attaches great importance to this meeting in the context of overcoming the grain crisis only because it came at a time of peak efforts aimed at solving this problem. In fact, Lavrov is not going to Turkey to negotiate about grain.
“The context of his visit is much broader. After all, no one can forbid Minister Lavrov to go to Turkey or the Turkish Foreign Minister to receive him,” – Kuleba noticed.
He also stressed that Ukraine is talking about overcoming the food crisis and unblocking Ukrainian ports, primarily through the United Nations.
We welcome other steps and efforts, but with one on the condition that the final decision should fully take into account the interests of Ukraine's security,” said Dmitry Kuleba.
We are talking about 2 points:
- enough weapons to protect Odessa and the Black Sea coast from sea Russian forces on land;
- a clear mission to patrol the channel through which grain will be supplied by ships of countries that Ukraine can trust.
Kuleba noted that, in particular, in this regard, we can trust the Turkish navy .
The blocking of Ukrainian ports threatens the world with a food crisis
- Russia is cynically stealing Ukrainian wheat and also blocking our ports. This means that Ukraine cannot supply grain to other countries of the world that are significantly dependent on it. Ukrainian grain exports account for 50% of the World Food Program, and currently about 20 million tons of grain are blocked in ports.
- Turkey, which has already previously agreed with Russia, can become an intermediary in deblocking ports for grain export. However, the proposed conditions do not suit Ukraine.
- Turkish President Erdogan offered assistance in clearing the sea coast near Odessa and escorting ships with grain. But the Ukrainian side does not agree to leave Odessa without protection from a potential attack by enemy Russia.
