Ukraine grain exports could start within a week: Turkey

ANKARA • Turkey has said grain exports from Ukrainian ports could resume within a week and reach 25 million tonnes by the end of the year, after it brokered a deal between Kyiv and Moscow that eased fears of a global food crisis.

Exactly when exports halted by Russia's invasion could begin would be determined by logistical groundwork, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman, Mr Ibrahim Kalin, said in an interview on Tuesday.

As many as 100 vessels carrying grain and agricultural products were trapped in Ukrainian ports when war broke out. The United Nations expects the first to move within a few days, and an adviser to global insurers has proposed a mechanism that might help cover the trade.

Still, meeting Mr Kalin's forecast for exports by December could be a challenge.

Analysis company UkrAgroConsult says the Black Sea ports in question - Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi - have a maximum combined capacity of 3.5 million tonnes a month.

A Russian missile strike on Odesa after the deal was reached raised doubts about Moscow's commitment to the accord, but Mr Kalin dismissed the concerns. The UN later said all sides had reconfirmed their intent to make the deal work.

The agreement capped months of diplomacy by the Turkish leader, who has struck a delicate balance since Russian troops entered Ukraine in February.

Turkey, a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato), has been vocal about its support for Ukraine. A company headed by Mr Erdogan's son-in-law has provided dozens of armed drones to bolster the Ukrainian military.

Yet, Ankara refrained from joining sanctions targeting Russia and kept lines of communication open with President Vladimir Putin.

"If everyone burns bridges with Russia, who'll talk to them? We have seen (with this agreement) how important Turkey's balancing act is," Mr Kalin said.

Turkey's assurance came as a train carried cement from Russia to its Kaliningrad exclave on Tuesday, the governor said, in the first such trip since the European Union said Lithuania must allow Russian goods across its territory.

"It is indeed the first train to have arrived after the EU decision," the Tass news agency cited regional governor Anton Alikhanov as saying.

It is "quite an important achievement", he said.

Wedged between Lithuania and fellow EU and Nato member Poland, Russia's heavily militarised exclave of Kaliningrad depends on mainland Russia for a sizeable portion of its supplies. But these must transit through Lithuanian territory.

The region, roughly half the size of Switzerland and with about a million inhabitants, has found itself increasingly isolated since Russia sent troops into Ukraine in February.

Vilnius last month said it was banning the rail transit of certain Russian goods across its territory, as an application of EU sanctions against Russia over its military operation.

Mr Alikhanov at the time said the "blockade" could affect up to 50 per cent of the exclave's imports, including coal, metals and construction materials.

But the EU this month said Lithuania had an obligation to allow the passage of sanctioned goods, with the exception of weapons, between mainland Russia and Kaliningrad.

BLOOMBERG, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE