A proposed deal to allow critical shipments of grain to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports remains deadlocked after talks between top diplomats of Russia and Turkey ended.
A meeting between the foreign ministers in Ankara, which ended on Wednesday, failed to yield a breakthrough on the crisis.
There was no representative from Ukraine at the meeting.
Russia’s invasion in late February disrupted deliveries to markets, pushing global food prices higher, and threatening mass starvation in some countries heavily reliant on Ukrainian grain.
Ukraine was among the world’s largest exporters of wheat before the war erupted.
Kiev and Moscow blame each other for laying sea mines off the Black Sea coast, which have now become a security concern in grain talks.
“Russia has already done its part and now it is up to Ukraine to remove the mines,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at a press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Ankara.
He added that Moscow was “ready to ensure the safety of ships leaving Ukrainian ports.
“A solution is still possible, thanks to a Turkish offer to either help clear mines or ensure safe passage.’’
Çavuşoğlu said Turkey favoured a United Nations plan involving all three countries and the UN.
The Russian navy has been blockading Ukrainian ports for weeks.
Meanwhile, Kiev does not trust Moscow’s promises of safe passage of ships from Ukraine through the Black Sea.
Lavrov downplayed global concerns about a food crisis, arguing that it was “really a small problem.”
According to Ukrainian data, more than 23 million tonnes of grain and oilseeds cannot be exported.
Before the war, 90 per cent of Ukrainian exports were made via its ports.
Three of them, Mariupol, Berdiansk and Kherson, are under Russian control.
Kiev also accuses Moscow of stealing million tonnes of grain from the occupied areas.
An alternative method for exporting Ukrainian grain is using the rail network, but technical complications like differing track widths among Ukraine and its neighbours are a hindrance.
The UN Children’s Agency, UNICEF, said this week that tens of thousands of children were at immediate risk of starvation in the Horn of Africa, as the war had increased food insecurity in a region already suffering from drought.
Countries in the region, such as Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, are major buyers of Ukrainian grain.
European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said the European Union had to “dismantle Russia’s disinformation” blaming the West for the world’s food crisis.
“Food has become now part of the Kremlin’s arsenal of terror and we cannot tolerate this,” von der Leyen told the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France.
Von der Leyen was responding to Moscow’s attempts to blame Western sanctions for the grain shortages.
“They do not affect the trading of grain or other food between Russia and third countries.
“The bloc’s port embargo on Russian-flagged ships has a full exemption for agricultural goods,” she said.