Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavuşoğlu said that Ankara takes seriously the reports about Russia's illegal export of grain from Ukraine and will not allow its imports into its territory.

Çavuşoğlu said this on Thursday following talks with British Foreign Secretary Liz Trass, Anadolu reported.

"We are against the illegal acquisition and sale of Ukrainian grain or other goods to international markets by Russia or any other country. Turkey will definitely never allow the import of such goods, our state and institutions have a clear position in this regard," assured the Turkish Foreign Minister.

He noted that, as of now, the investigation of the Turkish side has not confirmed that the grain imported by Russia was stolen from the territory of Ukraine.

"We take every claim seriously and conduct an investigation. Our investigation showed that the country of origin of the ships and goods was Russia," Çavuşoğlu noted.

The minister also confirmed that a meeting of representatives of Turkey, Ukraine, Russia and the UN is being prepared in Istanbul to resolve the issue of the export of Ukrainian grain, but its date has not yet been determined.

In turn, the British Foreign Secretary stressed that the problem of food exports from Ukraine must be resolved as soon as possible to prevent a food crisis.

"We clearly state that this grain crisis is urgent and must be solved within the next month, otherwise we could face devastating consequences. Obviously, Ukrainian ports must be protected and commercial vessels must be guaranteed a safe corridor," Reuters quoted Liz Truss as saying.

As reported, a Turkish Defense Ministry delegation on Wednesday held talks in Moscow to unblock Ukrainian grain exports by sea.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said the meeting was held in a "constructive and very positive atmosphere," and participants said they reached an understanding to hold quadrilateral talks involving Ukraine and the UN.

As a reminder, Russia is blocking the Black Sea waters, so Ukraine cannot export its food by sea. It also accuses the West of increasing the price of food due to sanctions against it.

Earlier, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senyk said that under Russia's sea blockade, Ukraine has established two channels for grain exports - via Poland and Romania, and is also negotiating with the Baltic States.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said his country had offered to contribute to resolving the global food crisis caused by the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports.

Volodymyr Zelensky said in an address to the African Union that Ukraine had not yet made progress in multilateral negotiations to unblock maritime exports of grain.