After the grain agreement regarding Ukraine, the UN and Turkey are preparing a new one

On August 18, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi will meet with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and the President of Turkey Recep Erdogan in Lviv. After that, Guterres will visit Odesa to see how the export of Ukrainian grain is going through the mediation of the UN.

During the meeting with Zelenskyi, Guterres will discuss the situation at the Zaporizhia NPP, the destruction of which Russia is currently blackmailing Ukraine and the West, as well as the search for a political solution to the war with Russia.

The United Nations has said it may facilitate a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Zaporizhzhia from Kyiv, but Russia says any mission that would pass through the Ukrainian capital is too dangerous. (I wonder who this danger comes from? – Ed.)

Also in Lviv, at the summit with the participation of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the Secretary General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres, the issue of ending the Russian-Ukrainian war by “diplomatic means” will be discussed.

– During the meeting, the steps that can be taken to end the Ukrainian-Russian war through diplomatic means will be discussed at the expense of intensifying the activity of the mechanism created for the export of Ukrainian grain to world markets, – reports the Turkish agency Anadolu Agency. In addition, the leaders will discuss all aspects of Turkish-Ukrainian relations, which have the level of strategic partnership.

The most important topic of the meeting, of course, will be the discussion of ending the war in Ukraine. What can foreign guests offer in this regard? Experts are very skeptical. The UN has recently been rapidly losing its weight in the world, and it is unrealistic to expect that it will be able to stop the war.

As for the president of Turkey, his opinion has some weight in the eyes of Vladimir Putin, but will he be able to convince him to stop the war? The Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, confirmed the other day that the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has influence over the Russian President in order to stimulate him to fulfill “certain agreements”. Erdogan himself is actively seeking to bring Zelensky and Putin to the negotiating table, as he has already said more than once. But will he succeed?

Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko believes that there is no need to count on success at the moment. Although the successful grain agreement inspired Erdogan and Guterres to go further to address the global issue of ending the war in Ukraine.

– But you don’t have to count on success. Because now there are no prerequisites for negotiations. Ukraine and Russia have radically different goals. Moscow wants to take the south from us, and we want to return all the occupied territories, – explains the expert.

And now Erdogan, according to Fesenko, is going to Lviv in order to probe the positions of Zelensky and the Ukrainian leadership regarding negotiations with Putin. Erdogan will convey Putin’s position to Zelensky and try to find out how he will react to it.

Erdogan himself is interested in negotiations between the warring parties for several reasons.

– The first is economic interest. War creates problems. Primarily for the Turkish tourism business. Therefore, the sooner this war ends, the better for Turkey. The second is that Erdogan has presidential elections next year, and he needs to show results and successes. And the most important thing. The grain deal showed that Erdogan can be an effective peacemaker and mediator. And this takes it from the level of a regional leader to a world leader, the expert believes.

As for the summit in Lviv, Volodymyr Fesenko assumes that a tripartite meeting in Lviv can bring certain results and even success.

– At the meeting, the main topic will be the neutralization of risks around the Zaporizhzhia NPP. As they found a compromise on grain, they can agree on something at the moment. This is where certain agreements can be made for the future, he believes.

Tags: Russia, Turkey, export, grain, UN, Odesa, Lviv, Ukraine