Ukraine wants to continue operation of grain corridor without Russia – Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine proposes to continue the work of the grain corridor without Russia. He said this in an interview with African journalists on Monday.

“Even without Russia, we need to do everything so that we can use this Black Sea corridor. We are not afraid. We have been approached by companies that own ships. They said they are ready. If Ukraine lets go and Turkey lets them through, everyone is ready to continue supplying grain,” Zelensky was quoted as saying by his press secretary, Serhiy Nikiforov.

The President instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to prepare an official proposal to the United Nations and Turkey.

“I have instructed our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, after the official signal from the Russian Federation, to prepare our official signals to the United Nations and to Turkey so that they can answer me as the President of Ukraine that they are ready to continue our initiative,” Zelenskyy said.

He reminded that there were no agreements between Ukraine and Russia, and that the Russian withdrawal only concerns its agreement with the UN and Turkey.

“We had two agreements: Ukraine, Turkey, the UN; the other agreement was Russia, Turkey, the UN. Therefore, when Russia says it is stopping, it is breaking its agreements with UN Secretary General Guterres and President Erdogan. Not with us. We had no agreements with them,” the president said.

As a reminder, on July 17, 2023, Russia announced its withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative. It said it would not give guarantees of non-attack on civilian vessels after that date.

In October 2022, Russia had already withdrawn from the grain deal, but Turkey and the UN began to inspect ships carrying Ukrainian grain themselves, forcing Russia to quickly change its mind.

Tags: Ukraine, Black Sea grain corridor