We must expand grain export initiative in coming weeks – Zelensky

Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council via video link, the president emphasized that the Russian Federation has put the world on the brink of an unprecedented famine. In particular, as a result of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov the deficit in the already destabilized food market has increased.

​“Fortunately, we managed to achieve such conditions under which Russia was forced to accept the terms of the international community, and thanks to this, grain exports from three Ukrainian ports were resumed. This already relieves part of the tension in the food market, but does not remove the threat completely,” he said.

Zelensky thanked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as all other conscientious subjects of international relations who are fighting against the food crisis, which only Russia is responsible for. “And in the coming weeks, we must do everything to expand the existing grain export initiative,” he said.

As reported, on July 22 in Istanbul, at the suggestion of the United Nations, Ukraine, Turkey, and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres signed the Initiative on the safe transportation of grain and food products from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi.