Ukraine in complex talks to release its ports from blockade, says Zelensky

KYIV • Ukraine is engaged in "complex negotiations" to release its ports from Russia's blockade, President Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday, warning that the global grain crisis would last as long as Russia's "colonial war".

"We are conducting complex multi-level negotiations to unblock our Ukrainian ports. But there is no progress yet... That is why the global food crisis will continue as long as this colonial war continues," he said in a video address to the African Union, adding that the grouping of countries, facing a food shortage, is a "hostage of those who unleashed war against our state".

Mr Zelensky's comments came as European Union foreign ministers discussed ways to free millions of tonnes of grain that are stuck in Ukraine because of the blockade at a meeting in Luxembourg yesterday.

Ukraine is one of the top wheat suppliers globally, but its grain shipments have stalled and more than 20 million tonnes have been trapped in silos since Russia invaded the country in February and blocked its ports.

Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis and blames Western sanctions for the shortage that has led to a jump in global food prices and warnings by the United Nations of hunger in poorer countries that rely heavily on imported grain.

Hungary yesterday offered its territory as a possible route for Ukrainian grain exports due to the disruption of usual routes, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said yesterday.

He said Hungary has offered to let the exports pass through its territory "to facilitate the passage of any food shipments destined for various parts of the world from Ukraine, mainly to North Africa or the Middle East".

Mr Szijjarto, who made the proposal at the meeting of EU foreign ministers, did not elaborate on the amount of grain that Ukraine could export via Hungary, but added that two logistical hubs on its eastern border could be deployed to ease the situation.

Meanwhile, the European Union is divided on how to help poorer countries fight the growing food crisis and address shortages of fertilisers caused by the war in Ukraine, with some fearing that a plan to invest in plants in Africa would clash with the EU's green goals.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has also led to a spike in prices of chemical fertilisers, of which Russia and Belarus are major producers.

The EU has for weeks tried to help its poorer neighbours in Africa and the Middle East to weather the crisis by offering them fresh funds, while trying to convince them that EU sanctions against Moscow and Minsk are not to be blamed for the food emergency.

The bloc is planning a new initiative at a summit of EU leaders later this week that would structurally decrease poorer nations' reliance on Russian fertilisers by helping them develop their own fertiliser plants.

But at a meeting with EU envoys last week, the EU Commission explicitly opposed the text, warning that supporting fertiliser production in developing countries would be inconsistent with the EU's energy and environment policies, officials said.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS