ANKARA: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday detailed a UN plan to create a sea corridor from Ukraine for grain exports, saying safe routes could be formed without needing to clear the mines around Ukrainian ports.
His comments appeared to mark a shift from an earlier proposal to de-mine Ukraine’s ports, a move that Kyiv fears would leave it far more vulnerable to Russian attack from the Black Sea.
Cavusoglu discussed the plan with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Ankara last week, but said further discussions with Moscow and Kyiv were needed. Lavrov then said that the onus was on Ukraine to clear mines around its ports for commercial ships to approach.
Speaking to reporters, Cavusoglu said it would “take some time” to de-mine Ukraine’s ports and that a safe sea corridor could meanwhile be established in areas without mines under the UN proposal, adding that Ankara was still awaiting Moscow’s reaction to the plan.
“Since the location of the mines is known, certain safe lines would be established at three (Ukrainian) ports,” he said. “These (commercial) ships, with the guidance of Ukraine’s research and rescue vessels as envisaged in the plan, could thus come and go safely to ports without a need to clear the mines.”
Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine halted Kyiv’s Black Sea grain exports, helping to cause a global food crisis. The United Nations has appealed to the two sides, as well as to their maritime neighbor and NATO member Turkey, to agree a corridor.
Moscow denies responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions.
Turkey has the second biggest army in NATO and a substantial navy. It also has good relations with both Kyiv and Moscow, and has said it ready to take up a role within an “observation mechanism” based in Istanbul if there is a deal.
Turkey’s state broadcaster TRT Haber said a hotline had also been created between Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. Over the hotline a general from each country can take part in talks to “discuss the issue more closely and reach a result,” it said.
Turkey details UN plan for grain exports without need to de-mine Ukraine ports
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Turkey details UN plan for grain exports without need to de-mine Ukraine ports
- His comments appeared to mark a shift from an earlier proposal to de-mine Ukraine's ports
- A safe sea corridor could meanwhile be established in areas without mines under the UN proposal
Russia and Ukraine trade attacks as US and European officials prepare for peace talks
Moscow pounded Ukrainian power infrastructure with drone and missile strikes on Saturday and Kyiv launched a deadly strike of its own on southwestern Russia, a day before talks involving senior European and US officials aimed at ending the war were set to resume.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian, US and European officials will hold a series of meetings in Berlin in the coming days, adding that he will personally meet with US President Donald Trump’s envoys.
“Most importantly, I will be meeting with envoys of President Trump, and there will also be meetings with our European partners, with many leaders, concerning the foundation of peace — a political agreement to end the war,” Zelensky said in an address to the nation late Saturday.
Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are traveling to Berlin for the talks, according to a White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
American officials have tried for months to navigate the demands of each side as Trump presses for a swift end to Russia’s war and grows increasingly exasperated by delays. The search for possible compromises has run into major obstacles, including which combatant will get control of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which is mostly occupied by Russian forces.
“The chance is considerable at this moment, and it matters for our every city, for our every Ukrainian community,” Zelensky said. “We are working to ensure that peace for Ukraine is dignified, and to secure a guarantee — a guarantee, above all — that Russia will not return to Ukraine for a third invasion.”
As diplomats push for peace, the war grinds on.
Russia attacked five Ukrainian regions overnight, targeting the country’s energy and port infrastructure. Zelensky said the attacks involved more than 450 drones and 30 missiles. And with temperatures hovering around freezing, Ukraine’s interior minister, Ihor Klymenko, said more than a million people were without electricity.
An attack on Odesa caused grain silos to catch fire at the coastal city’s port, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and reconstruction minister Oleksiy Kuleba said. Two people were wounded in attacks on the wider Odesa region, according to regional head Oleh Kiper.
Kyiv and its allies say Russia is trying to cripple the Ukrainian power grid and deny civilians access to heat, light and running water for a fourth consecutive winter, in what Ukrainian officials call “weaponizing” the cold.
The drone attack in Russia’s Saratov region damaged a residential building and killed two people, said the regional governor, Roman Busargin, who didn’t offer further details. Busragin said the attack also shattered windows at a kindergarten and clinic. Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down 41 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory overnight.
On the front lines, Ukrainian forces said Saturday that the northern part of Pokrovsk was under Ukrainian control, despite Russia’s claims this month that it had taken full control of the critical city. The Associated Press was not able to independently verify the claims.
The latest attacks came after Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov reaffirmed Friday that Moscow will give its blessing to a ceasefire only after Ukraine’s forces have withdrawn from parts of the Donetsk region that they still control.
Ukraine has consistently refused to cede the remaining part of the region to Russia.
Ushakov told the business daily Kommersant that Russian police and national guard troops would stay in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas even if they become a demilitarized zone under a prospective peace plan — a demand likely to be rejected by Ukraine as US-led negotiations drag on.
Ushakov warned that a search for compromise could take a long time, noting that the US proposals that took into account Russian demands had been “worsened” by alterations proposed by Ukraine and its European allies.
“We don’t know what changes they are making, but clearly they aren’t for the better,” Ushakov said, adding: “We will strongly insist on our considerations.”
In other developments, about 480 people were evacuated Saturday from a train traveling between the Polish city of Przemysl and Kyiv after police received a call concerning a threat on the train, Karolina Kowalik, a spokesperson for the Przemysl police, told The Associated Press. Nobody was hurt and she didn’t elaborate on the threat.
Polish authorities are on high alert since multiple attempts to disrupt trains on the line linking Warsaw to the Ukrainian border, including the use of explosives in November, with Polish authorities saying they have evidence Russia was behind it.
