Agreements on "grain corridor" at very advanced stage, but could derail at any moment – Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs

TUESDAY, 19 JULY, 22:34

Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said on Tuesday that negotiations on grain exports are at a "very advanced stage" but there is still a risk that they could break down.

As the correspondent of "European Pravda" reports, Kuleba stated this during the national 24/7 joint newscast. 

"The negotiations are very complicated. They are being conducted on a very serious top-down line: from the UN Secretary General to the technical experts who sit and work out the details. There is a clear mandate from the president: all the details must be worked out in such a way as to eliminate any threat to Ukraine from the sea. And all this is very difficult," said the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"There is a rule in diplomacy: nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. Everything can break at any moment, but now we are really at a very advanced stage, and we hope that Russia will behave responsibly and sign under those obligations required in the draft of this agreement," he added.

Background:

At the quadrilateral negotiations in Istanbul regarding the export of Ukrainian grain, Ukraine proposed to create an algorithm for navigating in the Black Sea to ensure safe shipping.

Hulusi Akar, the Minister of Defence of Turkey, said that the negotiators in Istanbul on Wednesday had agreed on the creation of a coordination centre for the export of Ukrainian grain by sea, and the corresponding agreement will be signed next week.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that the parties had achieved "critical" progress on the issue of grain export from Ukraine by sea during the quadrilateral meeting in Istanbul.