LVIV, Ukraine –
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will host the UN chief and Turkey’s leader on Thursday to discuss the recent deal to resume Ukraine’s grain exports, the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant and the efforts to help end the nearly six-month conflict. war.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived in Lviv on Wednesday, near Ukraine’s border with Poland, where he will meet Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq said that, among other things, Guterres will discuss “his general efforts to do what he can to reduce the temperature as much as possible with the various authorities.”
Last month, Turkey and the UN helped broker a deal that clears the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grains stuck at its Black Sea ports since Russia invaded on February 24. A separate memorandum between Russia and the UN was aimed at clearing obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer shipments to world markets.
The war and blocked exports significantly exacerbated the world food crisis because Ukraine and Russia are the main suppliers.
Grain prices peaked after the Russian invasion and while some have returned to pre-war levels, they remain significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Developing countries have been particularly affected by tight supplies and high prices. Although ships are now leaving Russia and Ukraine, the food crisis is not over.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters this week that Guterres’ trip to Ukraine will allow him to “see first-hand the results of an initiative that is critically important to hundreds of millions of people.”
Dujarric added that he hopes Thursday’s talks will raise “the need for a political solution” to the war.
He said the three leaders will also discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest in Europe, which Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of bombing.
In his late-night video address on Wednesday, Zelensky reaffirmed his demand that the Russian military leave the plant, emphasizing that “only absolute transparency and control of the situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for the Ukrainian state , for the international community and because the IAEA can ensure a gradual return to normal nuclear safety.” The International Atomic Energy Agency is a UN agency.
Russia has rejected the demand.
Erdogan’s office has confirmed that he will discuss the grain deal during the talks, as well as ways to end the war through diplomatic means.
Earlier this month, the Turkish leader met on the same issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In March, Turkey hosted a round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, who discussed a possible deal to end hostilities. The talks fell apart after the Istanbul meeting, with both sides blaming each other.
Erdogan has engaged in a delicate balancing act, maintaining good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has provided Ukraine with drones, which played a major role in deterring a Russian advance early in the conflict, but has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia over the war.
Facing a major economic crisis with official inflation approaching 80 percent, Turkey is increasingly dependent on Russia for trade and tourism. Russian gas supplies 45 percent of Turkey’s energy needs, and Russia’s atomic agency is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
During their meeting in Sochi this month, Putin and Erdogan agreed to strengthen energy, financial and other ties between their countries, raising concerns in the West that Ankara could help Moscow circumvent US and European Union sanctions. .