UN chief, Ukrainian, Turkish presidents to meet to discuss grain exports, security

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ukraine on Thursday, the UN said, noting that Guterres on Friday will visit the Black Sea port of Odessa, where grain exports have resumed under a UN-brokered deal.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Tuesday that Guterres would meet Zelenskiy in Lviv to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, amid growing fears as the Russian military controls the largest nuclear plant in Europe.

The UN, Turkey,Ukraine and Russia represent the Black Sea Grain Initiative which was set up in July to allow the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports to the international market. 

Some 20 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain has been stuck in silos and on about two dozen ships in the country’s ports  since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 of this year. 

The situation has triggered a sharp surge in the price of food on global markets.