Kiev Foreign Minister Kuleba asks for guarantees from third countries so that Russia does not carry out new attacks that take advantage of the opening of corridors
Hope is opened so that Ukrainian ports can be unblocked and thus the grain-laden ships can leave that country to avoid the famine that the UN says could develop in several poor countries as a result of the impact of the Russian invasion in the international food market. Russia is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, while Ukraine is the fifth. Between the two countries, they represent more than a third of world grain exports. According to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 6 million tons of wheat and 14 million tons of maize are blocked in Ukrainian ports, two of the grains for which this country is one of the largest producers in the world.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba assured in an interview published Tuesday with the Italian newspaper “La Repubblica” that the plan to export grains from the port of Odessa under the umbrella of the United Nations is at an “advanced stage”. is located. Before this, Kiev demanded assurances from Moscow that it will not use these corridors to attack Ukraine, and also asked other countries to pledge themselves to the agreement. Turkey, which already organized a round of negotiations between the two sides in March, could act as a mediator in the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports by sea.
Kuleba urged “launching an international operation in the Black Sea with the help of friendly countries available to send their ships to clear the waters and guide the passage of commercial cargo ships, starting with Odessa.” After assuring that “no one can trust the Russians”, so “the unilateral guarantees” Moscow can offer are not enough, he stressed that “third countries” are needed to take responsibility for enforcing the agreement.
“Our primary concern is that our wheat reaches the countries that need it,” assured Kuleba, pointing out that the release of the ports Ukraine still controls must arrive “within a maximum of two weeks” to avoid the “disastrous consequences”. . of the scarcity and scarcity of grains on the international markets. When asked about Kiev’s demands to return to the negotiating table with Moscow, the head of Ukrainian diplomacy replied that “there are no specific conditions”, as the only aim is for “Russian deputies to show that they have real intentions to do business”. The “ruthless” invasion of the Donbas region and the bombing of cities, he says, offer an opposing message. “If you really want to negotiate, don’t act like that.”
Both the FAO and the World Food Programme, also dependent on the UN, have been warning of the catastrophic effects of the war on food security since the start of the conflict. Even before the invasion began, the number of hungry people grew to 200 million, 40 million more than the year before, partly due to rising prices. According to FAO estimates, an additional 18 million undernourished people will be added as the first impact of the war, an amount that could rise if the conflict continues.
Source: La Verdad
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