Ankara is awaiting a response from Moscow on organizing a possible meeting between Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the UN to discuss the issue of exporting grain from Ukraine, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Saturday.
“Our position was stated very clearly. We are awaiting a response from the Russian side, both on the issue of holding the meeting and other details,” the Anadolu agency quotes him as saying.
“We stressed the Turkish side’s readiness to organize a quadripartite meeting in the UN-Turkey-Ukraine-Russia format. This is ultimately a UN initiative,” the minister said.
Cavusoglu said that during talks this week with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, he explained that the UN plan to transport grain from Ukraine by sea is the best.
Earlier this week, the Turkish Foreign Minister said that Ankara considers the UN plan to export grain from Ukraine feasible. He noted that discussions are underway on the creation of a “grain corridor” mechanism in the Black Sea with the participation of the UN, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.
Ukrainian metallurgical enterprises in January-May of this year reduced the production of general rolled products, according to operational data, by 52.7% compared to the same period last year, to 3.789 million tonnes.
As reported in the information of the association Ukrmetallurgprom on Saturday, for the first five months of the year, steel production fell by 52.8%, to 4.244 million tonnes, pig iron – by 53.3%, to 4.154 million tonnes.
Earlier, Ukrmetallurgprom reported that Ukraine in the first quarter of this year reduced the production of general rolled products by 34.2% compared to the same period last year, to 3.116 million tonnes, steel by 31.2%, to 3.641 million tonnes, and pig iron by 34.1%, to 3.499 million tonnes.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed gratitude to the governments of Western countries and international organizations for financial support to Ukraine.
“I am grateful to the government of Britain, the leadership of the World Bank, the government of Canada for taking new steps in financial support for Ukraine,” he said in a video statement on the night of Friday to Saturday.
He said “the day before, our state received $1.5 billion: $1 billion from the World Bank, another $500 million from the UK. It is direct budget support.”
“We use it to pay wages in the public sector. Canada was the first country to send funds to our administrative account with the IMF, this is CAD 1 billion,” he said.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky believes that keeping Ukraine outside the EU, European unification works against Europe.
“The final stage of a large diplomatic marathon has begun, which should end in a week and a half. And we are in this marathon together with the European Union, on the same team,” he said in a traditional video message on Saturday evening.
According to Zelensky, “we will soon receive an answer about the status of a candidate for EU membership.”
“I am convinced that this decision can strengthen not only our state, but the entire European Union. What else needs to happen in Europe to make it clear to skeptics that the very fact of keeping Ukraine outside the EU, European unification works against Europe?” he.
For example, the president noted, “everything is obvious to the Russian occupiers, they say so when they mock our people, this is supposedly because Ukraine went to Europe. Where are the skeptics in Europe then?”
Vasily Zvarych, the new Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland, announced that he had begun his diplomatic mission in Warsaw.
“Congratulations from Poland! We have arrived to work resolutely 24/7 to strengthen the Ukrainian-Polish friendship! Together with Poland we are stronger and together we will definitely win! Thank you for the solidarity and support of Ukraine,” Zvarych wrote on Twitter on Sunday
As reported, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Andriy Deshchytsia from the post of Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland and appointed Vasily Zvarych to this position. The corresponding decrees No. 43/2022 and 44/2022 of February 8 were published on the website of the head of the Ukrainian state.
