UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Martin Griffiths has arrived in Moscow to discuss lifting a blockade of grain and other food exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports.
Griffiths will meet russian officials a few days after another UN high-level envoy, Rebecca Grenspan, held "constructive" talks in Moscow with russia's first deputy prime minister, Andriy Belousov, on accelerating exports of Russian grain and fertilisers.
"UN Secretary-General António Guterres is trying to negotiate what he calls an 'all-inclusive deal' to restore both Ukrainian food exports and Russian food and grain exports, which were disrupted by russia's invasion of Ukraine in February," the paper noted.
We would like to remind you that russia blocks Ukrainian ports, making the export of 22m tonnes of grain impossible for the time being. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the problem, which can cause a food crisis worldwide, can be solved by military means, and therefore he urged foreign partners to provide Ukraine with the necessary weapons.
The Advisor of the Presidential Office Mykhaylo Podolyak believes that a third-country convoy could help with exports. The matter concerns the support of ships with grain by convoys of other countries' fleets.
The European Commission has approved the decision to create so-called transport "solidarity lines" to help Ukraine export its own agricultural products.
The Great Britain Intelligence Service said that despite the efforts of the Ukrainian government and Western partners to find ways to open overland logistics routes for exporting grain from Ukraine, this will not help the delivery of all Ukrainian grain products.
The head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Ukraine is working on an international operation under the UN auspices with partner fleets to create safe trade routes for exports of Ukrainian foodstuffs.