The United Nations said Tuesday that Secretary-General António Guterres will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in western Ukraine on Thursday.
Her Stephane Dujarric, UN spokesperson, said the invitation to the tripartite meeting was made by her Zelenskyy.
The leader represents three of his four members of the Black Sea Grains Initiative. Russia is the fourth member. The deal, signed in Istanbul on July 22, has enabled the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports to international markets while removing several obstacles to the sale of Russian fertilizers and food products.
Some 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain have been stuck in silos and some 20 vessels in the country's southern ports since Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
The worsening World Food Program estimates that 345 million people in 82 countries face severe food insecurity, while up to 50 million people in 45 countries face famine. warns that it is on the verge of Before the war, Ukraine's food exports fed an estimated 400 million people worldwide.
The Black Sea Grains Initiative has been functioning smoothly since the Joint Coordination Center, which oversees operations, went online on 27 July. Since then, the JCC has approved 21 of her vessels to sail from the ports of Odesa, Chernomorsk and Pivdeny in southern Ukraine. (also known as Yuzuni) carries 563,317 tons of grain and other food products. A further 15 ships were allowed to enter the port to receive food cargo. They are moving through the Black Sea maritime humanitarian corridor.
On Friday, Guterres will travel to the port of Odessa to see the operation in action. After that he will travel to Istanbul to visit his JCC on Saturday.
Dujarik said the UN Secretary-General will hold bilateral talks with President Zelensky. In doing so, the International Atomic Energy Agency going to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is likely to raise a number of issues, such as the need for a political settlement of the dispute and the urgent need for a technical mission from the United States. The facility, now under Russian control, has been under shelling in recent weeks and the IAEA says it risks a "nuclear catastrophe".
Moscow has accused the UN Secretariat of obstructing the visit, an accusation the UN denies.
"As we said yesterday that we are there to help implement the IAEA's mandate regarding the power plant, our position remains unchanged," Dujarric told reporters. . "We are ready to support you in terms of logistics and security from Kyiv."
