UN sees progress in negotiations to free up Ukraine grain exports
ISTANBUL—UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres said the first meeting in weeks between Russia and Ukraine took “a critical step” forward Wednesday to ensuring the export of desperately needed grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to help ease the global food crisis.
Turkey’s defense minister said agreements would be signed when negotiators meet again in Istanbul next week.
The UN chief cautioned that “more technical work will now be needed” to reach an agreement, “but the momentum is clear...i’m encouraged. I’m optimistic, but it’s not yet fully done.”
With the war in Ukraine in its fifth month and much of the world seeing food prices soar and millions in developing countries facing hunger and possible starvation, getting grain and fertilizer shipments moving again from two of the world’s major exporters is crucial.
Guterres proposed a package deal in early June to unblock shipments of Ukrainian wheat and other food crops from the Black Sea and lift restrictions on Russia’s exports of grain and fertilizer. He kept tight-lipped about progress—until Wednesday.
The UN chief spoke in New York, hours after military officials from Russia, Ukraine and Turkey met with UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths in Istanbul to discuss stumbling blocks to a deal, mainly on how to ship about 22 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine because of the war.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the sides reached agreement concerning the “joint control” of vessels as they leave and arrive at Black Sea ports to pick up grain, and the safety of the transfer routes. A coordination center would be established in Istanbul and would include UN, Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian officials, he said.
Nato-member Turkey has retained close ties to both Moscow and Ukraine and has worked with both countries and the UN to reach an agreement. It has offered to provide safe Black Sea corridors.
Akar said the talks were held in a constructive atmosphere. “We see that the parties are willing to solve this problem,” he said, forecasting agreements next week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his country’s delegation at the talks had informed him that they were making progress.
He said he was grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their efforts to restore Ukraine’s agricultural exports. “If they succeed in removing the Russian threat to shipping in the Black Sea, it will reduce the severity of the global food crisis,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.
Russia said it had presented a package of proposals for a “practical and quick solution” to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain but did not elaborate.
Guterres said there was “very substantive progress and I would say broad agreement” Wednesday on how to ensure the safe export of Ukrainian food products through the Black Sea. Now, he said, there is “a ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world” and bring “much needed stability to the global food system.”
He cited “substantive agreement on many aspects” related to the control of shipping, coordination of the operation and de-mining of the Black Sea.
He said the UN, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will work together to ensure that an agreement is implemented effectively.
Experts have cautioned that an agreement will not have an immediate impact. It will take time to ensure there are no mines in the Black Sea shipping channel, and then to get cargo ships to Odesa, Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port. Inspections will have to be done and arrangements made for shipping out the 22 million tons of grain that Ukraine’s president says are now in silos.
UN, Turkish and other officials are scrambling for a solution that would empty the silos in time for upcoming harvest in Ukraine. Some grain is now being transported through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is small compared with the Black Sea routes.