ISTANBUL, Turkey — A Turkish cargo ship on
Wednesday left
Ukraine’s Russian-occupied port of Mariupol after a round of
“constructive” grain talks with Moscow, Turkey’s defense ministry said, without
specifying if it was carrying wheat.
اضافة اعلان
“The meeting in Moscow gave its first concrete
result,” the Turkish ministry said in a statement.
“Just a few hours after the end of the long meeting,
the Turkish dry cargo ship, which had been waiting for days, left the Ukrainian
port.”
The statement added that the Azov Concord became the
first foreign ship to leave the port in Mariupol — a city devastated by a
weeks-long siege Ukrainian officials estimate claimed 20,000 lives — since
Russia’s invasion in February.
Turkey has been spearheading efforts to resume grain
deliveries across the Black Sea that have been stalled by minefields and a
Russian military blockade of Ukrainian ports.
The meeting between Turkish generals and their
Russian counterparts in Moscow reached “an understanding for future
negotiations between Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and the
UN”, the Turkish statement
said.
“In this context, it was decided that a four-way
meeting should be held in Turkey in the coming weeks, after a meeting with the
Ukrainian side and the UN,” said the defense ministry.
Turkish media had earlier reported that the four-way
grain talks would be held in Istanbul next week.
Moscow denies blocking the passage of cargo ships
loaded with Ukrainian grain and blames Western sanctions against Russia for
contributing to the food crisis.
A Russian defense ministry statement about the
meeting noted no discernible progress.
“The parties discussed the safe exit of Turkish
merchant ships and the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, as well as
approaches to ensuring safe navigation in the Black Sea,” the Russian statement
said.
Millions of tonnes of wheat and other grains are
currently stuck in Ukrainian and
Russian-occupied ports.
The crisis has seen food prices soar and contributed
to the global spike in inflation.
The UN warns that it is affecting poorer African
countries the most because of their heavy dependence on Russian and Ukrainian
wheat.
Read more Region and World
Jordan News
.jpg)
.jpg)
