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.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan plans to discuss the issue of grain export corridor with Ukrainian and Russian leaders Vladimir Zelensky and Vladimir Putin, the Turkish Anadolu agency reported on Twitter.
“Turkish President Erdogan said he would discuss the issue of grain export corridor with Russian and Ukrainian counterparts next week,” the statement said.
Transmission system operators in Continental Europe have responded positively to NPC Ukrenergo’s request to resume electricity exports from Ukraine, the company said.
“Today, the energy system of Ukraine is operating in the trial emergency synchronization mode with ENTSO-E, which means that export-import operations with European counterparties are not performed. However, both the Ukrainian and European sides are considering the possibility of a phased increase in export volumes, which would be mutually beneficial” , – reported on the Ukrenergo website on Wednesday.
Ukraine in May 2022 exported 1.74 million tonnes of grains and oilseeds, as well as agricultural products, by all means of transport, which is 1.8 times more than in April, according to the website of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food.
“In May, compared to April 2022, there was a reorientation of export channels: 798,800 tonnes and 22,100 tonnes, respectively, were exported by water transport (river ports and ferry crossings), which made the river ports of Ukraine the main export gates,” said the department.
According to the report, in May, 959,350 tonnes of corn (more by 60% compared to April), 43,500 tonnes (an increase of 4.7 times), 11,600 tonnes of barley (less by 2%), 341,800 tonnes of sunflower seeds (an increase of 3.3 times), 66,620 tonnes of soybeans (more by 17%), and 101,000 tonnes of meal (an increase of 2.6 times) were shipped to foreign markets.
In addition, 202,650 tonnes of sunflower oil (more by 56% compared to April this year) and 16,080 tonnes of soybean oil were delivered to buyers abroad in May, which approximately corresponds to the April figures of 16,380 tonnes.
Due to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine and the blockade of its export infrastructure in the Black Sea, the pace of exports of agricultural products is still inferior to the same period in 2021. So, in May 2021, some 2.24 million tonnes of corn, 857,800 tonnes of wheat, 22,000 tonnes of barley, 189,600 tonnes of sunflower seeds, 501,800 tonnes of sunflower oil, 36,180 tonnes of soybeans, 20,600 tonnes of soybean oil and 440,000 tonnes of meal were exported.
According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, in May, 709,600 tonnes of export supplies of agricultural products, or 40% of its total exports, were shipped by rail. Some 56% of all exports of soybean oil, 53% of corn, 48% of meal, 39% of barley, 33% of soybeans and 28% of sunflower oil were transported by rail.
In turn, 75% of wheat, 59% of sunflower seeds, 57% of barley, 50% of soybeans and 43% of meal were exported through the river ports of the Danube.
Road transport in May provided 40% of exports of soybean oil, 32% of sunflower oil and 23% of sunflower seeds.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine is not ready to consider the issue of exporting its own grain through Belarus.
“As for Belarus: this information is open. We were offered to go through Belarus by rail (to export grain). We even understand how much. But we understand why we were offered this. We are not yet ready to follow this format and help our ” friendly “neighbors,” Zelensky told reporters on Monday.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky says that neither he nor Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba were invited to a meeting in Ankara on June 8, which will, in particular, consider the issue of Black Sea shipping and which will be attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs RF Sergey Lavrov.
“I was not invited. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has not been invited to date,” Zelensky said during a conversation with reporters on Monday, answering a related question.
According to him, he discussed with Turkish President Recemop Tayyip Erdogan, among others, the issue of mediation by the Turkish side in unblocking Ukrainian ports.
“For us, it is important that we are ready to produce grain… For us (important – IF) that there is a safe corridor of ships – that this or that fleet of this or that state will ensure the export of this grain to us. That’s all. And here we talked both with Britain and Turkey. Turkey is now finding a format to give us guarantees… I think because of this they are meeting with the Russians so that Russia will give Turkey guarantees that nothing will happen to their ships. I think so. But, however, the details of their meeting are unknown to me yet,” Zelensky said.
The President also said that negotiations on the export of grain are being held with the UN, as well as with the Baltic countries and Poland – on the export of some volume by rail, but this direction is not a priority due to the long delivery times. Through Odessa ports, according to him, Ukraine can export 10 million tons of grain monthly. “If now we have 22-25 million tons blocked there, but in the fall we may already have 75. What are we going to do? Therefore, we won’t be able to do without ports,” Zelensky stressed.
When asked under what conditions Ukraine can go for demining the coast of Odessa ports and who should be the guarantor for the Ukrainian side to do this, he replied: “I consider the strongest guarantee is our appropriate weapons that will be deployed in the region, the unblocking of another corridor to the port for the export of grain”.
“We are working on this with specific states, with specific anti-ship systems. We are working and are already getting a little, I can already state. I think this is the best guarantee,” Zelensky added.
