UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have accepted an invitation from Ukraine’s President Volodimir Zelensky to meet on Thursday to review the deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets. , help ease the world grain crisis and discuss ways to end the six-month war.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters he has no doubt the three leaders will also discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing. .
Dujarric said they would also likely discuss a UN mission to investigate the Olenivka prison killings in a breakaway region of eastern Ukraine that both warring nations accuse each other of committing.
He said he hopes “the need for a political solution” to the war will be raised during the meeting in the western city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border.
The meeting comes after the signing of an international agreement in Istanbul on July 22 that paves the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grains stuck in its Black Sea ports and in silos since Russia invaded. the country on February 14.
The memorandum between Russia and the UN, signed on the same day, was aimed at removing obstacles to its food and fertilizer shipments to world markets.
Erdoğan’s office confirmed that his leader will be in Lviv on Thursday to meet with Zelensky and Guterres. Guterres first proposed the grain deal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Zelensky in separate meetings in Moscow and kyiv in late April.
A UN spokesman said the secretary-general’s trip to Ukraine is “an opportunity for him to see first-hand the results of an initiative of vital importance to hundreds of millions of people.”
After the meeting, the UN chief will travel to Odessa, one of three Ukrainian ports now operating to ship grain. He will then go to Istanbul to visit the center that coordinates Black Sea shipping, which includes the four parties to the agreement: Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the UN.
Associated Press/OnCuba.
