UN Secretary-General visits Odesa for first time

EUROPEAN PRAVDA — FRIDAY, 19 AUGUST 2022, 17:08

António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General paid his first visit to Odesa.

Source: Serhiy Bratchuk, the spokesman of the Odesa Oblast Military Administration. European Pravda, with reference to Interfax-Ukraine.

Quote: "For the first time in history, UN Secretary-General António Guterres visited Odesa." 

Guterres arrived in the port of Odesa to join negotiations that will continue on Friday. Together with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, he will focus on "grain corridors" for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products.

Guterres arrived in Odesa with Oleksandr Kubrakov, the minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine.

The UN Secretary-General stressed the importance of ensuring access to both Ukrainian and Russian products. "We must all provide access to Ukrainian and Russian products. It's not easy, but no initiative is easy. This is an agreement between two sides that are currently at war. This is unprecedented, but there is still room to move on many fronts. Getting more food and fertilisers from Ukraine and Russia is important for the goods’ markets and prices," he said.

Guterres also expressed regret that the significant capacity of the port of Odesa is not fully used. "I hope that I will be able to return soon and see that all the terminals are loaded and that the city is bustling with life," he said.

According to Kubrakov, ten vessels are currently ready for loading in three ports of the Odesa Oblast. "We expect that we will be able to receive 40 applications for additional vessels to enter the port of Odesa. Therefore, I am happy to report that the initiative is working," he said.

Guterres also commented on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, saying that "if the territory of the plant was demilitarised, the issue of shelling and accusations of them by the Russian and Ukrainian sides would have already been resolved." "Electricity from the power plant is Ukrainian, the Ukrainian people need it, especially during the winter period, and this must be observed," he added.

As reported, on 18 August, Guterres visited Lviv, where he met with Zelenskyy and Erdoğan. 

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