Ukraine, Russia, UN to discuss export of grain in Istanbul on July 13, says Turkish Defense Ministry

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that on July 13, a meeting of the delegations of Ukraine, Russia and the UN will be held in Istanbul regarding the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, reported Anadolu news agency.

Akar noted that he had separate negotiations with the Ministers of Defense of Ukraine and Russia — Oleksii Reznikov and Sergei Shoigu. As a result on July 13, negotiations between the military delegations of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the UN are to take place on the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports.

We reached out to representatives of the Ukrainian authorities regarding this meeting.

This comes after on July 11, the presidents of Turkey and Russia — Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Vladimir Putin — discussed  over the phone the situation in Syria, the war in Ukraine and the opening of "grain corridors" from Ukraine.

"Grain Corridor" and unblocking of ports

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasizes that an international naval fleet mission is necessary for the safe unblocking of Ukrainian ports. There is also the question of whether it will be able to open fire if the Russian Federation resorts to provocations.

Turkey, which is negotiating with Russia about unblocking Ukrainian ports, said that they are considering various ways to supply Ukrainian grain to the world — in particular, the mechanism of the so-called grain corridor with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey is being discussed.

The Turkish newspaper Milliyet wrote that the mechanism of the corridor should be agreed upon at the quadrilateral meeting. Presumably, 35-40 million tons of Ukrainian grain will be delivered to the world markets through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits in the next 6-8 months — first of all, the departure of merchant ships docked in the port of Odesa is expected.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, also reported that a safe route can be laid through zones free of mine contamination, so there is no need to demine the Black Sea coast to start exports.

Turkey stated that if the corridor is agreed upon, it will be able to operate in 3-4 weeks, however, so far there have been no quadrilateral meetings or concrete agreements.