Kuleba: "Ukraine and European Union should make maximum efforts to simplify food exports from Ukraine"
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, called on the EU to make maximum efforts to simplify the export of food from Ukraine, in particular by increasing the capacity of alternative transport corridors "Solidarity Paths".
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which cites Kuleba's statement made at a meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the European Union.
"Russia's goal is not only to harm Ukraine, but also to enrich itself at the expense of rising food prices. Russia has destroyed the Grain Initiative, is striking Ukrainian ports and infrastructure involved in maritime exports, and at the same time increasing its own supply of grains on the world markets. In other words, they are trying to eliminate Ukraine from the market as a competitor with missile strikes on the initiative and ports, forcing the final buyers, consumers of bread in Asia and Africa, to pay for their exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and to finance the Russian war machine," - he declared.
Kuleba called on EU member states to actively work together to deprive Russia of leverage over Ukrainian maritime exports. According to him, the ideal scenario would be a complete end to the Russian naval blockade of Ukrainian ports. This will be possible when Ukraine receives the first F-16 squadrons that will be able to patrol the skies and sea lanes. The minister expressed his gratitude to those EU countries that already make an active contribution to the aviation coalition, and called on them to implement all procedures as soon as possible.
"Currently, Ukraine has proposed to the UN and Turkey to continue the work of the grain corridor in a tripartite format, including ship inspections in the Joint Coordination Center. We are waiting for their response. I urge you to support our request in your interaction with the UN and the Secretary General," he urged.
Dmytro Kuleba emphasized that all alternative ways of exporting Ukrainian grain should now work at full capacity and expand, and statements about any restrictions are unacceptable.
"Under the current conditions, it is necessary to open all doors instead of keeping some of them closed," he emphasized.
