France has taken “drastic measures” to increase its natural gas storage in a bid to deal with the possibility of a total cut-off of Russian gas, the country’s energy minister said on Wednesday.


“We have taken measures to increase our natural gas storage … by managing the supplies of liquefied natural gas from all parts of the world that are ready to provide us with a delivery from Norway,” Agnes Pannier-Runacher told BFM Business TV.


Nearly 17% of France’s gas supply comes from Russia.

GRTgaz, a gas transmission network, announced in mid-June that France no longer receives pipelined natural gas from Russia. In March, Paris held talks with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, to diversify its fuel and gas imports.


The additional supply needs to be supplemented with better control of energy consumption, the minister stressed.

To be able to benefit from gas throughout the winter period, Pannier-Runacher said, energy sobriety measures like setting the heating temperatures to 19 degrees which can lead to 7% savings in bills or carpooling will help save the fuel./aa

A just-brokered agreement to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports is a "ray of hope" for those suffering from hunger worldwide, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Wednesday.

"Today at last we have a ray of hope; a ray of hope to ease human suffering, and alleviate hunger around the world; a ray of hope to support developing countries and the most vulnerable people, a ray of hope to a bring a measure of much needed stability to the global food system,” Guterres said at the UN's New York headquarters.

The comments came just minutes after Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced that Turkish, Ukrainian, Russian and UN officials agreed to establish a coordination center in Istanbul to facilitate Ukrainian grain exports.

Akar said the participants found common ground on technical issues, such as navigational safety on transfer routes, as well as joint controls at entry and exit of ports.

Representatives of Ukraine and Russia are set to gather in Türkiye next week to review the details of the agreement and also sign relevant documents, making the deal official, he added.

Guterres thanked Türkiye for its "outstanding efforts" during the talks, as well as Ankara's "critical role going forward."

Still, he maintained additional work will be needed in order to "materialize today's progress," but said the agreement is an indisputable indication that "the momentum is clear."

"Today is an important and substantive step, a step on the way to a comprehensive agreement," he said. "We must also do more for struggling people in developing countries getting pummeled by a food, energy and financial crisis not of their making."

Ukraine is colloquially referred to as a global "breadbasket," and is the fifth largest wheat exporter worldwide, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.

UN officials warned in June of endangered world food security due to Russia's war on Ukraine, saying it poses the threat of famine, destabilization, and mass migration worldwide as Russia blockades the Black Sea ports that normally send grain to the world.

The US and its allies have accused the Kremlin of attempting to use Ukrainian agricultural exports as "blackmail" in order to gain leverage to lift US and its partner nations' sanctions./aa

South Korea's COVID-19 cases have been rising again due to a highly contagious new omicron subvariant in the East Asian country, local media said on Thursday.

During the past 24 hours, South Korea registered 39,196 new infections, the highest daily figure in a week, bringing the caseload to over 18.64 million, Yonhap News Agency reported.

With 16 more fatalities, the virus-related death toll also rose to 24,696.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency, the highly contagious omicron subvariant BA.5 has been fast spreading in the country.

The nationwide infections declined in recent weeks after they reached a peak of over 620,000 in mid-March when the country was hit by the omicron variant.

Health authorities warned that the country entered into a new virus wave and urged people to wear masks despite the easing of social distancing restrictions last month./agencies

Türkiye’s calendar-adjusted industrial production jumped 9.1% year-on-year in May, the country’s statistical authority reported on Thursday.

The manufacturing index posted the best performance among industrial sub-sectors in May, shooting up 10.7% from the same month last year, according to TurkStat data.

The electricity, gas, steam, and air conditioning supply index was flat, rising marginally by 0.3%, while the mining and quarrying index fell by 5.7%.

On a monthly basis, the industrial output rose slightly by 0.5% from April.

“When the subsectors of the industry were examined, mining and quarrying index decreased by 3.0%, manufacturing index increased by 0.8%, electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply index decreased by 0.3% in May 2022, compared with previous month,” TurkStat said./aa

Drone camera footage defines much of the public's view of the war in Ukraine: grenades quietly dropped on unwitting soldiers, eerie flights over silent, bombed-out cities, armor and outposts exploding into fireballs.

Never in the history of warfare have drones been used as intensively as in Ukraine, where they often play an outsized role in who lives and dies. Russians and Ukrainians alike depend heavily on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to pinpoint enemy positions and guide their hellish artillery strikes.

But after months of fighting, the drone fleets of both sides are depleted, and they are racing to build or buy the kind of jamming-resistant, advanced drones that could offer a decisive edge.

The urgency was reflected by the White House’s disclosure Monday that it has information that Iran will be rushing “up to several hundred” UAVs to Moscow’s aid. Iranian-supplied drones have effectively penetrated U.S.-supplied Saudi and Emirati air-defense systems in the Middle East.

“The Russian drone force may still be capable, but exhausted. And Russians are looking to capitalize on a proven Iranian track record," said Samuel Bendett, an analyst at the CNA military think tank.

Meanwhile, Ukraine wants the means "to strike at Russian command and control facilities at a significant distance,” Bendett said.

The demand for off-the-shelf consumer models remains intense in Ukraine, as do efforts to modify amateur drones to make them more resistant to jamming. Both sides are crowdfunding to replace battlefield losses.

“The number we need is immense,” a senior Ukrainian official, Yuri Shchygol, told reporters Wednesday, detailing the first results of a new fundraising campaign called “Army of Drones.” He said Ukraine is initially seeking to purchase 200 NATO-grade military drones but requires 10 times more.

Outgunned Ukrainian fighters complain that they simply don’t have the military-grade drones needed to defeat Russian jamming and radio-controlled hijacking. The civilian models most Ukrainians rely on are detected and defeated with relative ease. And it's not uncommon for Russian artillery to rain down on their operators within minutes of a drone being detected.

Compared with the war’s early months, Bendett now sees less evidence of Russian drones getting shot down. “The Ukrainians are on the ropes,” he said.

Adding to the defenders' woes: The Ukrainian hero of the war's early weeks, the Turkish-made Bayraktar TB-2 laser-guided, bomb-dropping drone, has become less effective in the face of denser Russian air and electronic defenses in eastern Ukraine. It was the star of many a patriotic Ukrainian video.

“Russians are in a much better position because they fly long-range drones" designed to evade electronic countermeasures, a Ukrainian air reconnaissance unit leader recently told Associated Press (AP) journalists outside Bakhmut near the front lines.

On the ground, Russia's more plentiful electronic warfare units can cut off drone pilots' communications, interrupt live video and drop the vehicle from the sky or, if it has homing technology, force it to retreat.

Hence the need for advanced drones that can survive radio interference and GPS jamming and rely on satellite communications and other technologies for control and navigation.

Ukraine's most urgent need is for drones able to help newly arriving longer-range Western artillery hit distant targets, said Marine Capt.-Lt. Maksym Muzyka, a founder of UA Dynamics, a Ukrainian drone maker.

In mid-June, a top adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy specified in a tweet listing various desired armaments that Ukraine needs 1,000 drones if it is to end the war.

The Russian stock of long-range military drones exceeds Ukraine's, but Kremlin supplies are also diminished. Russian troops also fly a lot of $2,000 off-the-shelf quadcopters – often supplied by soldiers' relatives and volunteers, according to social media posts tracked by drone researcher Faine Greenwood.

A Russian deputy prime minister who oversees Kremlin arms industries lamented in a TV interview last month that prewar drone development was not more robust. Yuri Borisov also said Russia was stepping up manufacture of a wide range of drones “although it can’t be done instantaneously.”

Russia has lost about 50 of its most plentiful model of drone, the Orlan-10, but apparently has dozens or scores more, Bendett said.

A new report from Britain's RUSI think tank puts the current lifespan of a Ukrainian drone at roughly a week. Russian electronic warfare units are “imposing significant limitations on Ukrainian reconnaissance in depth” – and Ukraine desperately needs radar-seeking killer drones that can destroy them.

As it stands, Russian forces are “generally able to bring accurate artillery fire down on (Ukrainian) targets three to five minutes" after a reconnaissance drone has identified them.

The war is unlikely to produce more tales of civilian drone operators like the teen whose off-the-shelf surveillance drone helped the Ukrainian military devastate a Russian armored column moving toward the capital, Kyiv, in the week after the Feb. 24 invasion. Operating those drones on today’s front lines is terribly risky.

A Ukrainian drone operator who goes by the call sign Maverick said his fellow pilots often go deep behind enemy lines. Otherwise their drones lack the range to correct Ukrainian artillery fire. That puts them constantly in the sights of enemy artillery.

The U.S. and other Western allies have shipped hundreds of drones, including an unspecified number of “kamikaze” Switchblade 600s that carry tank-piercing warheads. They can fly at 70 mph (112 kph) and use artificial intelligence to track targets. But their range is limited, and they can only stay aloft about 40 minutes.

Potentially of greater utility for reaching Russian ammunition dumps and command posts are the 121 advanced military drones called Phoenix Ghosts that the U.S. acquired for Ukraine in May.

Their specifications are mostly secret, but they can fly for six hours, destroy armored vehicles and have infrared cameras for night missions, said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, a board member of Aevex Aerospace, the manufacturer.

Other drones similarly suited to reconnaissance and artillery spotting include Ukraine’s homegrown Furia, each of which costs $25,000.

About 70% of the roughly 200 Furias that Ukraine purchased after Russia initiated hostilities in 2014 have been downed, said Artem Vyunnyk, CEO of the manufacturer, Athlon Avia. Production is resuming at a new factory, he said, but domestic suppliers alone can’t begin to fill Ukraine’s drone gap.

The Ukrainian military's General Staff did not respond to questions about the unmanned aerial vehicles it seeks from allies. Pentagon spokesperson Jessica Maxwell also declined to comment on Ukraine’s drone requests.

But Shchygol, the head of Ukraine's state service for special communication, made it clear Wednesday that priorities include “kamikaze” drones and models capable of surviving Russia’s thick electronic warfare curtain.

The first missiles fired at an enemy by a U.S. drone came in 2001 against the Taliban in Afghanistan. Since then, drones have become integral to modern warfare, including in the Syrian civil war and the brief but intense 2020 war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno-Karbakh region.

Their proliferation has spawned an entire industry devoted to countermeasures.

Anti-drone equipment supplied to Ukraine by Western companies include gear that can identify not just a drone’s location but its make and model based on the radio frequencies it uses. It then knows how best to disable the drone.

The ever more complex electromagnetic cat-and-mouse game makes Ukraine the world's latest crucible of military technology innovation.

“Everybody now wants drones, special drones, unjammable and whatsoever,” said Thorsten Chmielus, CEO of the German company Aaronia, which has contributed technology to Ukraine.

The rapid advancement leads to his nightmare: “Everybody will have millions of drones that can’t be defeated.”/AP

The Turkish economy quickly healed its wounds after the treacherous coup attempt on July 15, 2016, by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) and broke new records every year, representatives of the business world said.

Nail Olpak, head of the Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK), stated that six years have passed since FETÖ's treacherous coup attempt that targeted Turkey's national will and democracy, and that on that dark night, the Turkish nation stood firm against the putschist mentality.

Despite treacherous coup attempts, global economic troubles, pandemics and unwanted wars, Olpak said Turkey has always managed to grow.

“Breaking new records in exports every year, adding strength to its industry and increasing employment with its young population, Turkey continues to grow and advance in global trade with the strength it receives from democracy and its nation,” he said.

Mahmut Asmalı, chairperson of the Independent Industrialists and Businesspersons Association (MÜSIAD), explained that the main purpose of all coups is to transfer resources, wealth and income, highlighting the damage caused to the economy by the Sept. 12 coup and the postmodern coup of Feb. 28 in Turkey.

Emphasizing that the July 15 coup attempt should also be evaluated in this context, Asmalı went on to say that although markets returned to normal with the successful policies of the economic administration immediately after July 15, this attempt had serious costs.

“According to the first determinations, we can estimate that this cost, which was approximately TL 300 billion, increased even more when the impact on the sub-sectors is taken into account,” he said.

Asmalı noted that the increase in the dollar exchange rate, the sales pressure in the markets and the interruption of production and economic activity with the July 15 attempt increased the economic damage, adding that the Turkish economy, which grew by 4.5% and 4.7% in the first two quarters, contracted in the third quarter of the year when the coup attempt took place.

"Considering the current size of our economy at the stage we have reached today, we see that all these costs we have mentioned cannot overshadow the financial gains achieved in the last 20 years,” he said.

“The Turkish nation, which stood up for its will on July 15, managed to preserve not only democracy but also the Turkish economy,” Asmalı said.

Head of the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO), Şekib Avdagiç, also commented on the heroism of the Turkish nation against the coup plotters on the night of July 15, saying six years have passed since the FETO's coup attempt, “and we should not let ourselves be neglected, and we should not be complacent.”

“Just as our business world in Istanbul did not give way to the putschist mentality, it will not give the remnants of this mentality the right to live, and will be on a constant vigilance against them,” he said.

Erdal Bahçıvan, chairperson of the board of directors of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO), also applauded the bravery of the Turkish public, who defended democracy at the cost of their lives in the face of the coup attempt.

Commenting on the attempted coup's effect on the economy, Bahçıvan emphasized that the Turkish economy did not lose its economic activity in that period and passed a very difficult test successfully. "Besides, the measures taken without wasting any time prevented a negative atmosphere from forming in the markets. The Turkish financial system has also been healthy since the first working day after the coup attempt. and it worked effectively, without any problems,” Bahçıvan said.

"As industrialists, we have always made the strongest contribution to our economic growth in the past six years. It should be noted that Turkey, which has always played important roles in its region and in the world, especially in the economy, is also a country with big goals for the future.”

Orhan Aydın, chairperson of the Anatolian Lions Businessmen's Association (ASKON), said that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s astute stance against the coup plotters was as harsh as they deserved and that the Turkish nation took an epic stand that night.

Highlighting the damage caused by the coup attempt to the economy, Aydın said that the increase in exchange rates, the decrease in tourism revenues and credit ratings, the delay in investments, the slowdown in employment and the increase in risk premium were all the results of that attempt.

However, Aydın said, “Despite all this chaos, we recovered in a short period of six to seven months with the strong stance of our state and our nation, and the support of the private sector and NGOs, and we were able to achieve growth figures that reached 7%.”

The president of the Istanbul Trade Exchange (İSTİB), Ali Kopuz, expressed that Turkey continued to grow after the third quarter of 2016 by repelling all negativities, adding that the minimum wage was hiked in recent months due to issues like inflation and rising costs of living.

“Measures are also being taken to stop the inflationary environment. Hopefully, this struggle will be concluded successfully as soon as possible and our economic struggle will be won, just like our fight for democracy," Kopuz said.

Nilüfer Çevikel, chairperson of the Young Business People's Association of Turkey (TÜGİAD), said that the Turkish nation had a great role in thwarting this treacherous afront on civilian politics with its support for democracy.

“As the TÜGİAD family, we once again express our belief in our country and democracy, and strongly condemn all attempts to disrupt our national unity and solidarity and aim to take our country to dark days,” Çevikel said./agencies

There has been a 63% rise in diseases spread from animals to humans in Africa in the past 10 years, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said Thursday.

Africa faces a growing threat from zoonotic diseases such as monkeypox, the WHO said Thursday, with the continent recording a 63% rise in such outbreaks over the past decade.

A WHO analysis found 1,843 "public health events," such as disease outbreaks, in Africa between 2001 and 2022.

Thirty percent of those events were outbreaks of diseases spread to humans by animals, which are known as zoonotic diseases.

Ebola is included among these diseases, for example, as well as dengue fever, anthrax, the plague and monkeypox.

Africa has seen a 63% rise in zoonotic disease outbreaks over the past decade in comparison to the 2001-2011 period, the WHO said in a statement.

WHO's Africa director Matshidiso Moeti was quoted in the statement as saying that poor transport infrastructure had once limited mass zoonotic infections on the continent.

But Africa could become a "hot spot for emerging infectious diseases," she warned, as improved transport links raise the threat of zoonotic pathogens traveling to cities.

Moeti urged researchers with different specialties to collaborate closely to stem zoonotic diseases. "Only when we break down the walls between disciplines can we tackle all aspects of the response," she said.

Scientists have frequently sounded the alarm about the risk of animal-born diseases, especially as growing human populations come into closer contact with wild species through hunting or habitat loss.

The period covered by the analysis included the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The novel coronavirus emerged in China from a suspected animal source before becoming classified as a human disease as it spread./AFP

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, more than doubled the amount of Russian fuel oil it imported in the second quarter to feed power stations to meet summer cooling demand and free up the kingdom’s own crude for export, data showed and traders said.

Russia has been selling fuel at discounted prices after international sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine left it with fewer buyers. Moscow calls the war in Ukraine a "special military operation."

The increased sales of fuel oil, used in power generation, to Saudi Arabia show the challenge that U.S. President Joe Biden faces as his administration seeks to isolate Russia and cut its energy export revenues.

While many countries have banned or discouraged purchases from Russia, China, India and several African and Middle Eastern nations have increased imports.

Biden is due to visit Saudi Arabia later this week, when he is expected to seek an increase in oil supply to global markets from the kingdom to help lower oil prices that have aggravated inflation worldwide.

There is little spare capacity for Saudi and others to increase production in the short term. Saudi Arabia has also maintained its cooperation with Russia in the alliance of global producers known as OPEC+. The two are the de facto leaders of respectively the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producers in that group.

Data obtained by Reuters through Refinitiv Eikon ship tracking showed Saudi Arabia imported 647,000 tons (48,000 barrels per day (bpd)) of fuel oil from Russia via Russian and Estonian ports in April-June this year. That was up from 320,000 tons in the same period a year ago.

For the full year 2021, Saudi Arabia imported 1.05 million tons of Russian fuel oil.

Saudi Arabian and Russian energy ministries declined to comment on the increased imports.

Saudi Arabia has for several years imported Russian fuel oil, which can reduce its need to refine crude for products and cut the amount of oil it needs to burn for power, leaving it with more unrefined crude to sell on international markets at higher prices.

The kingdom turns to oil to meet power needs, which typically peak as demand for cooling rises with summer temperatures. Some Saudi cities are far from natural gas fields that could provide cleaner fuel for power generation.

The volume of crude burnt is about 600,000 bpd in summer months and 300,000 bpd in winter months, figures from the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) show. Increased use of natural gas has reduced the amount from as much as 1 million bpd in 2010.

Hub in Fujairah

Saudi Arabia has also imported more Russian fuel oil via the Middle East oil hub of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), traders said.

Fujairah has received 1.17 million tons of Russian fuel oil so far this year, according to ship tracking, compared to 900,000 in the same period last year.

An extra 900,000 could be delivered to Fujairah in July alone, according to ship tracking, bringing the total to 2.1 million so far this year, exceeding the 1.64 million tons for the whole of 2021.

Much of the fuel oil in Fujairah is sold there as fuel for ships, but some of it is shipped to neighbouring countries. It is unclear how much additional Russian fuel is flowing to Saudi Arabia via Fujairah.

Saudi has expanded its refining capacity to 3.6 million bpd from 2.9 million in 2017.

Its refining utilisation rates stood at 70%-73% in April-June this year, despite output rising to above 10 million bpd.

This compares to 75%-95% in the same periods of 2017-2019, the last time its production was not severely reduced by output cuts by the OPEC+.

Meanwhile, exports of crude and products were at – or close – to an all-time high 9 million bpd in February-April, Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) figures showed, with crude exports alone at or close to 7.3 million bpd./Reuters

The first meeting in months between Russia and Ukraine took a critical step toward ensuring the export of desperately needed grain from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports to help ease the global food crisis.

Turkey announced a deal with Ukraine, Russia and the United Nations on Wednesday aimed at resuming Ukrainian grain exports blocked since Moscow launched its invasion in February, raising prospects for an end to a standoff that has exposed millions to the risk of starvation.

The summit in Istanbul marked the Russian and Ukrainian governments’ first face-to-face talks since another meeting in the Turkish metropolis in late March.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said agreements would be signed when the parties meet again next week that included “joint controls” for checking grains in ports and Turkey ensuring the safety of Black Sea export routes for Ukrainian grain.

NATO-member Turkey has retained close ties to both Moscow and Ukraine and has worked with both countries and the U.N. to reach an agreement. It has offered to provide safe Black Sea corridors.

The four-way meeting focused on discussions about stumbling blocks to a deal, mainly on how to ship about 22 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine because of the war.

Hours after the talks, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said a “critical step forward” had been made toward reviving Ukrainian grain exports.

He cautioned that “more technical work will now be needed” to reach an agreement, “but the momentum is clear ... I’m encouraged. I’m optimistic, but it’s not yet fully done.”

With the war in Ukraine in its fifth month and much of the world seeing food prices soar and millions in developing countries facing hunger and possible starvation, getting grain and fertilizer shipments moving again from two of the world’s major exporters is crucial.

Guterres proposed a package deal, supported by Turkey, in early June to unblock shipments of Ukrainian wheat and other food crops from the Black Sea and lift restrictions on Russia’s exports of grain and fertilizer. He kept tight-lipped about progress – until Wednesday.

Akar said the talks were held in a constructive atmosphere. “We see that the parties are willing to solve this problem,” he said, forecasting agreements next week.

Coordination center in Istanbul

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appeared optimistic in late-night comments.

“The Ukrainian delegation has reported to me that there is progress. In the coming days we will agree on the details with the U.N. secretary general,” Zelenskyy said.

He said he was grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their efforts to restore Ukraine’s agricultural exports. “If they succeed in removing the Russian threat to shipping in the Black Sea, it will reduce the severity of the global food crisis,” he added.

A coordination center would be established in Istanbul and would include U.N., Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian officials, Akar said.

“Its task will be to carry out general monitoring and coordination of safe navigation in the Black Sea,” Zelenskyy’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said on Twitter.

Russia said it had presented a package of proposals for a “practical and quick solution” to unblock the export of Ukrainian grain but did not elaborate.

Sides sound optimistic

Both Moscow and Kyiv sounded optimistic on Thursday.

Ukraine is “definitely a step closer” to clinching a deal to export grain through its Black Sea ports after Wednesday’s talks, the country’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Thursday.

“We are definitely a step closer to a result,” the minister told Reuters.

For its part, Russia said contacts between the sides would continue after talks in Istanbul delivered some elements of a possible deal.

“There has indeed been a substantive discussion on this issue,” Maria Zakharova, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, told reporters on Thursday.

“It was possible to formulate some elements of a possible agreement which Russia, Ukraine and Turkey are now discussing in their capitals through their military departments,” she said.

Guterres said there is “a ray of hope to ease human suffering and alleviate hunger around the world” and bring “much-needed stability to the global food system.”

He cited “substantive agreement on many aspects” related to the control of shipping, coordination of the operation and de-mining of the Black Sea.

The alliance chief said the U.N., Russia, Ukraine and Turkey will work together to ensure that an agreement is implemented effectively.

Experts have cautioned that it will take time to ensure there are no mines in the Black Sea shipping channel and then to get cargo ships to Odessa, Ukraine’s largest Black Sea port. Inspections will have to be done and arrangements made for shipping out the 22 million tons of grain that Ukraine’s president says are now in silos.

U.N., Turkish and other officials are scrambling for a solution that would empty the silos in time for the upcoming harvest in Ukraine. Some grain is now being transported through Europe by rail, road and river, but the amount is small compared with the Black Sea routes.

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) says the war in Ukraine is endangering food supplies for many developing nations and could worsen hunger for up to 181 million people.

Ukraine is one of the world’s largest exporters of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, but Russia’s invasion and war has disrupted production and halted shipments across the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

Obstacles

Before the talks, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press (AP) that grain exports from his country’s ports would not resume without security guarantees to ship owners, cargo owners, and to keep Ukraine as an independent nation.

Any agreement needs to ensure that Russia “will respect these corridors, they will not sneak into the harbor and attack ports or that they will not attack ports from the air with their missiles,” he said.

Russian and Ukrainian officials have traded accusations over the stuck grain shipments.

Moscow claims Ukraine’s heavily mined ports are causing the delay. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged that Moscow wouldn’t use the corridors to launch an attack, if the sea mines were removed.

But Ukrainian officials have blamed a Russian naval blockade for holding up the exports and causing the global food crisis. They are skeptical of Putin’s pledge not to take advantage of cleared Black Sea corridors to mount attacks on Ukrainian ports, noting that he insisted repeatedly this year that he had no plans to invade Ukraine.

Ahead of the talks, Pyotr Ilyichev, head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s department for ties with international organizations, said Russia’s military had repeatedly declared its willingness to allow safe shipping corridors in the Black Sea.

Seventy vessels from 16 countries have remained stuck in Ukrainian ports, Ilyichev said, alleging that Ukrainian authorities had barred them from departing.

“Our conditions are clear: We need to have a way to control and check the ships to prevent any attempts to smuggle weapons in, and Kyiv must refrain from any provocations,” Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted Ilyichev as saying.

Western sanctions on Russia do not ban exports of food or fertilizer. But Moscow argues that Western sanctions on its banking and shipping industries make it impossible for Russia to export those goods and are scaring off foreign shipping companies.

“Next week, hopefully, we’ll be able to have a final agreement,” Guterres told reporters in New York. “We still need a lot of goodwill and commitments by all parties,”

“In the end, the aim of all parties is not just an agreement between the Russian Federation and Ukraine but an agreement for the world.”/agencies