UKRAINE WRAP | Over 9-million border crossings registered from Ukraine
Image: REUTERS/UKRAINIAN ARMED FORCES
July 13 2022 — 21:31
Lithuania will allow sanctioned Russian goods trade to Kaliningrad
European Union member Lithuania will adhere to the EU executive's advice that sanctioned Russian goods can transit to the Kaliningrad exclave, its foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
The European Commission made the announcement earlier on Wednesday, after weeks of tensions between Moscow, Lithuania and the European Union which tested Europe's resolve to enforce sanctions on Russia.
Kaliningrad, which is bordered by EU states and relies on railways and roads through Lithuania for most goods, has been cut off from some freight transport from mainland Russia since June 17 under sanctions imposed by Brussels.
Sources told Reuters in June that European officials, backed by Germany, were in talks about exempting the territory from sanctions, paving the way for a deal in early July if Lithuania drops its reservations.
The guidance published on Wednesday said EU trade sanctions should not apply to transport between Russia and its exclave, so long as its volumes do not exceed averages of the last three years, relecting "the real demand for essential goods at the destination".
EU members were tasked with monitoring trade between Russia and Kaliningrad to check for sanction circumvention, such as making sure there are "no unusual flows or trade patterns".
The transit of sanctioned military and dual use goods and technology remains fully prohibited.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 21:00
Gas won't make EU's next Russian sanctions package, Czech leader says
The European Union is preparing a seventh package of sanctions against Moscow but it is already clear that it will not curb imports of Russian gas as too many member states can't adjust quickly enough, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala told Reuters.
Fiala said the sanctions now being finalised by the EU's executive to ramp up pressure over Russia's invasion of Ukraine were expected to ban gold imports, widen a list of dual-use goods banned for export to Russia and target more individuals.
The European Commission should be ready to present the package in the coming days and member states could approve it immediately after, Fiala said in an interview.
"A seventh package is being prepared, and I think it is a good course," Fiala said, speaking from his office in Prague.
"What is definitely problematic is to include energy into the sanctions, because a rule must be observed that the sanctions must have a greater impact on Russia than on the countries imposing the sanctions."
Fiala said there was no chance that gas would be included."
I think that it should not be there, because a number of countries depend on Russian gas," he said.
The Czech Republic, which took over the EU's rotating six-month presidency on July 1, is one of those countries, dependent on Russia for almost all of its gas needs.
Overall, the EU relied on Russia for 40% of its gas before Moscow invaded Ukraine.
Fiala said the Czechs were doing everything they could to cut their dependence on Russian energy, "but it won't happen this winter".
The first six rounds of sanctions included asset freezes and visa bans on Russian oligarchs and officials, export controls, freezing central bank assets, cutting banks out of the SWIFT messaging system and banning imports of Russian coal and oil.
But gas imports have not been touched even amid calls from Ukraine for such an embargo.
The latest sanctions are being prepared amid mounting fears in Europe that Russia could extend scheduled maintenance of the key Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline that began on July 11 and is due to last 10 days.
That would throttle European supplies further and disrupt plans by countries to fill storage for winter, tipping them into an energy crisis.
Fiala said Europe must be ready for the possibility that flows from Nord Stream 1 will not restart, seeking out alternative sources of gas supplies, like LNG, and be ready to share supplies among member states.
Another idea he supports would be to start joint gas purchases in Europe, but cautioned it remained difficult both technically and administratively.
"I don't want to be too optimistic," he said, when asked if joint purchases could start as early as this year, adding that EU energy ministers would discuss the proposal at an extraordinary meeting on July 26.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 20:26
North Korea recognises breakaway of Russia's proxies in east Ukraine
North Korea on Wednesday recognised two Russian-backed breakaway "people's republics" in eastern Ukraine as independent states, a separatist leader and a Russian state news agency said.
The move makes North Korea only the third country after Russia and Syria to recognise the two breakaway entities, the Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republics (LPR), in Ukraine's Donbas region.
In a post on his Telegram channel, DPR leader Denis Pushilin said he hoped for "fruitful cooperation" and increased trade with North Korea, an isolated, nuclear-armed state more than 6,500km away.
The DPR's Embassy in Moscow posted a photo on its Telegram channel of a ceremony in which North Korea's ambassador to Moscow, Sin Hong-chol, handed a certificate of recognition to DPR envoy Olga Makeyeva.
North Korea's Embassy in Moscow confirmed it had recognised the independence of both entities on Wednesday, Russia's TASS news agency later reported.
Ukraine immediately severed relations with Pyongyang over the move.
But the recognition was welcomed by some Donetsk residents living in the self-proclaimed "republic".
"Of course I'm happy," said Olga, who declined to give her surname. "Let more recognise us, so that everybody knows we're here.
"Anastasia, who also declined to give her surname, told Reuters the more countries that recognise the entities, the less chance Kyiv had of recapturing control of territory seized by the Russian-backed separatists and Russian armed forces. "Step by step we are joining the world stage," she said.
Russia, which has backed the regions since 2014, recognised them on the eve of its invasion of Ukraine in a move condemned by Kyiv and the West as illegal.
Russia justified its decision to launch the war, which it calls a "special military operation", by saying it was protecting Russian speakers who live there from "genocide".
Kyiv and the West have dismissed these assertions as a pretext for waging war and seizing swathes of Ukraine's territory.
North Korea previously expressed support for Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 19:14
Ukraine targets grain exports breakthrough at four-way talks
Ukraine said on Wednesday that an agreement to resume grain exports blocked by Russia appeared close as Turkey hosted four-way talks, raising hopes of an end to a standoff that has exposed millions to the risk of starvation.
Kyiv believed a deal was just “two steps away”, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying before the talks began, though other participants seemed less optimistic, and Turkey's defence ministry gave no details of the meeting's outcome after announcing it had ended.
A United Nations spokesperson said UN chief Antonio Guterres would speak later on Wednesday about the talks because “we believe that this is something positive”. Guterres would explain why, UN spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters in New York.
Several Ukrainian cities meanwhile reported heavy Russian shelling and, while not linking a grain deal to progress in talks to end the war, Kuleba was downbeat on prospects for peace.
More than 20 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain are stuck in silos at the Black Sea port of Odesa and dozens of ships have been stranded due to Russia's blockade, part of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine but which Kyiv and the West say is an unjustified war of aggression.
The talks, in Istanbul between Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and UN officials, took place behind closed doors at an undisclosed location.
Kuleba told the Spanish newspaper El País ahead of their resumption: “We are two steps away from a deal with Russia. We are in the final phase and now everything depends on Russia.
“Igor Konashenkov, a spokesperson for Russia's defence ministry, said Moscow had put forward proposals to resolve the grain issue as soon as possible.
Turkey published a photograph of the meeting showing the Russian and Ukrainian delegations sitting opposite each other looking stony-faced.
Ukraine and Russia are major global wheat suppliers. Russia is also a large fertiliser exporter and Ukraine a significant producer of corn and sunflower oil, so clinching a deal to unblock exports is seen as vital for food security, notably among developing nations, and for stabilising markets.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 16:40
Over 9-million border crossings registered from Ukraine
More than 9 million people have crossed the border from Ukraine since Russia invaded the country, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
A total of 9,136,006 border crossings have been recorded since the Russian invasion began on February 24, the agency's tally showed on Wednesday.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 19:22
US successfully tested Lockheed hypersonic missile this week
The US Air Force successfully tested a Lockheed Martin Corp hypersonic missile this week, sources familiar with the efforts said on Wednesday, amid growing concerns Russia and China have had more success developing their own hypersonic weapons.
The US Air Force successfully tested its Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) booster on Tuesday off the California coast, according to the sources. The ARRW is carried aloft under the wing of plane before it is launched toward its target. In previous tests, the weapon did not detach from the plane.
Hypersonic weapons travel in the upper atmosphere at speeds of more than five times the speed of sound, or about 6,200km per hour.
In a separate successful hypersonic weapon test recently, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) demonstrated its Operational Fires program, two people familiar with the matter said.
The successful tests show progress among the myriad US hypersonic weapons development efforts, which have in cases been beleaguered by failed tests, growing questions about cost and increasing concerns the United States is falling behind in what has become a superpower arms race.
Operational Fires is a ground-launched system that will "rapidly and precisely engage critical, time-sensitive targets while penetrating modern enemy air defenses." DARPA has requested and received $45m for OpFires in fiscal year 2022.
One of Lockheed Martin's concepts for the DARPA weapon is to use an exiting High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher, like those sent to Ukraine, to launch the weapon.
These successful tests come after failed a June 29 test flight of a different type of hypersonic weapon, the Common Hypersonic Glide Body, at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii.
Defence contractors hope to capitalise on the shift to hypersonic weapons not only by building them, but also by developing new detection and defeat mechanisms.
Arms makers like Lockheed, Northrop Grumman Corp and Raytheon Technologies Corp have all touted their hypersonic weapons programs to investors as the world's focus shifted to the new arms race for an emerging class of weapon.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 16:00
German economy ministry declines comment on Gazprom Nord Stream 1 turbine statement
The German economy ministry declined to comment on a statement by Kremlin-controlled energy giant Gazprom in which it says it had no documentation to show that Siemens is permitted to bring from Canada a gas turbine for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline.
“We do not comment on Gazprom's statements,” a spokesperson for the ministry said, adding that Siemens had announced it was in the planning stage so that transport and deployment can take place as quickly as possible.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 15:40
Ukraine targets grain exports breakthrough at four-way talks
Ukraine said on Wednesday an agreement to resume grain exports blocked by Russia appeared close as four-way talks began in Turkey, raising hopes of an end to a standoff that has exposed millions to the risk of starvation.
Kyiv believed a deal was just “two steps away”, foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba was quoted as saying, though other participants seemed less optimistic.
Several Ukrainian cities meanwhile reported heavy Russian shelling and, while not linking a grain deal to progress in talks to end the war, Kuleba was downbeat on prospects for peace.
More than 20-million tonnes of Ukrainian grain are stuck in silos at the Black Sea port of Odesa and dozens of ships have been stranded due to Russia's blockade, part of what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine but which Kyiv and the West say is an unjustified war of aggression.
The talks, in Istanbul between Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and UN officials, got under way behind closed doors at 10am GMT at an undisclosed location.
Kuleba told Spanish newspaper El País ahead of their resumption: “We are two steps away from a deal with Russia. We are in the final phase and now everything depends on Russia.”
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 15:33
US calls for immediate halt to Russian deportations in Ukraine
he US called on Russia to immediately release Ukrainians it has forced out of their home country and allow outside observers, citing reports Moscow was putting Ukrainian children up for adoption and “disappearing” thousands of others.
“The unlawful transfer and deportation of protected people is a grave breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians and is a war crime,” U.S. Secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Blinken said reports indicated Moscow was “deliberately separating Ukrainian children from their parents and abducting others from orphanages before putting them up for adoption inside Russia”, and also “detaining or disappearing thousands of Ukrainian civilians who do not pass 'filtration'.
“Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of deporting hundred of thousands of people from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine and forcing them into so-called “filtration camps”, and called for support from the Red Cross.
Moscow has denied intentionally targeting civilians since invading Ukraine on February 24 in what it calls a special military operation, and says it is offering humanitarian aid to those wanting to leave the country.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which define international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in conflict, prohibit mass forcible transfers of civilians during a conflict to the territory of the occupying power, classifying it as a war crime.
“Estimates from a variety of sources, including the Russian government, indicate that Russian authorities have interrogated, detained and forcibly deported between 900,000 and 1.6-million Ukrainian citizens, including 260,000 children, from their homes to Russia — often to isolated regions in the Far East,” Blinken said ahead of a conference scheduled on Thursday to address “accountability” in the ongoing conflict.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 15:31
Russia's fast-tracking of passports for Ukrainians is 'propaganda': Germany
Germany on Wednesday dismissed as “propaganda” a Russian decree that simplifies rules for Ukrainians to obtain Russian passports. Russia has said that residents of areas of southern and eastern Ukraine occupied since February's invasion are entitled to become Russian citizens, a move that Ukraine and Western countries say confirms that Moscow plans to retain control of those regions. The German spokesperson said: “It's part of Russian propaganda. Ukraine is a sovereign, independent state. No other state can give Ukrainian citizens any kind of passport.” — Reuters
July 13 2022 — 15:27
Kyiv denies Russia shot down four Ukrainian jets
Ukraine's air force denied on Wednesday that Russian forces had shot down four Ukrainian military jets. The Russian defence ministry said Russian forces had destroyed an Su-25 and Su-24 over the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine along with another Su-25 and a Mig-29 in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine. Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Air Force, dismissed the assertion as propaganda. — Reuters
July 13 2022 — 13:47
Ukraine rules out ceding territory to Russia to secure peace
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday ruled out ceding territory to Russia as part of any peace deal and said no peace talks were under way between Moscow and Kyiv.
“The objective of Ukraine in this war ... is to liberate our territories, restore our territorial integrity, and full sovereignty in the east and south of Ukraine,” he told a briefing. “This is the end point of our negotiating position.”
Russia took control of Luhansk province in eastern Ukraine this month and hopes to capture all territory it does not yet control in neighbouring Donetsk, the other province in the industrial Donbas region.
Kuleba said in an interview published earlier on Wednesday — before talks in Istanbul involving Ukrainian, Russian, Turkish and UN officials — that a deal to resume grain exports blocked by Russia appeared very close.But he made clear at Wednesday's briefing that broader peace talks were frozen.
“Currently there are no [peace] talks between Russia and Ukraine because of Russia's position and its continued aggression against our country,” Kuleba said.
Asked about a decision by the Canadian government to return a repaired turbine to Germany that is needed for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany, Kuleba said Kyiv had told Berlin and Ottawa that this was a “mistake”.
The Canadian government said on Saturday said it was issuing a “time-limited and revocable permit” to exempt the return of turbines from its Russian sanctions as Europe seeks continued energy flows until it can end its dependency on Russian gas.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 13:44
Russia's deepening ties with Iran represent 'profound threat': White House
Russian President Vladimir Putin's attempts to deepen ties with Iran amid the Ukraine conflict represents a “profound threat,” US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday.
Sullivan's comments come as US officials have said Iran is preparing to help supply Russia several hundred drones, including some that are weapons-capable, to use in Ukraine.
Putin is expected to visit Tehran next week. Sullivan called the timing of the Putin trip “interesting.” "Russia deepening an alliance with Iran to kill Ukrainians is something that the whole world should look at and see as a profound threat,” Sullivan said.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 12:53
Kremlin hopes Biden will not seek to turn Saudi Arabia against Russia
The Kremlin said on Wednesday that it hoped President Joe Biden's visit to Saudi Arabia would not be used to try to foster anti-Russian relations, just as the US seeks to convince Riyadh to boost oil production amid soaring prices.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Monday that Biden will make the case for greater oil production from Opec nations to bring down gasoline prices when he meets Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia this week.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said that Russia, the world's second largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia and the world's biggest exporter of natural gas, highly valued co-operation with Saudi Arabia within the framework of OPEC+ group of world's leading oil producers.
“We are within the framework of the OPEC + agreements, and we highly appreciate the work that we manage to do with our partners, including with leading partners such as Saudi Arabia,” he told a daily conference call with reporters. “We highly appreciate our relations and our interaction with Riyadh and we certainly hope that the building of relations and the development of relations between Riyadh and other world capitals will in no way be directed against us.”
President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Friday that continued sanctions against Russia over the conflict in Ukraine risked triggering catastrophic energy price rises for consumers around the world.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 11:58
Russia says EU ban on goods transit to Kaliningrad 'not resolved'
The Kremlin said on Wednesday it was expecting progress over a possible European Union deal to allow Russia to transit some sanctioned goods to its Kaliningrad exclave via the EU, but the problem had not been resolved. Lithuania blocked Russia from sending goods which have fallen under EU sanctions across its territory in June, triggering outrage in Moscow and promises of a response. — Reuters
July 13 2022 — 11:58
Two-thirds of Ukraine refugees plan to stay put for now — UN
Around two-thirds of refugees from Ukraine expect to stay in their host countries until hostilities subside and the security situation improves after Russia's invasion, a survey by the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR has found.
Most of the refugees from Ukraine, mainly women and children, hope to return home eventually, according to the survey of around 4,900 people from Ukraine now living in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The survey was conducted between mid-May and mid-June.
UNHCR says more than 5.6-million refugees are now recorded across Europe, with nearly 8.8-million people crossing out of Ukraine and nearly 3.3-million crossing back in since the Russian invasion on February 24.
“They are anxious to reunite with friends and family and worry about those who stayed behind. Most want to wait until hostilities have subsided,” the report released on Wednesday said.
Of those seeking to return, 40% planned to do so in the next month, said UNHCR, adding that a higher proportion of refugees from the capital Kyiv and areas in the west were planning to return than those who arrived from the east and north.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 11:18
Russia says it shot down four Ukrainian jets
Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday that Russian forces shot down four Ukrainian military jets over eastern Ukraine. Russian fighter jets destroyed an Su-25 and Su-24 — both Soviet-era jets used by the Ukrainian air force — over the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, along with another Su-25 and a Mig-29, another Soviet-designed fighter aircraft, in the Mykolaiv region of southern Ukraine, the defence ministry said in a daily briefing. Reuters was not able to verify the reports. — Reuters
July 13 2022 — 10:58
Litgrid says Baltics can connect to European grid within 24 hours if Russia cuts power
European power grid network ENTSO-E will connect to the Baltic states' grids within 24 hours if the countries were to be disconnected by Russia, Lithuanian power grid operator Litgrid said.
“If Russia disconnects us, even today, we would be ready. Our analysis shows that power supply would not be rationed, no serious disruptions expected,” Litgrid CEO Rokas Masiulis told a news conference on Wednesday. “Our agreement with European operators is that we get synchronised within 24 hours.”
In June, sources told Reuters European grid operators were ready to implement immediately a long-term plan to bring the Baltic states, which rely on the Russian grid for electricity, into the EU system in the event Moscow cuts them off.
Masiulis said Lithuania was aiming to decouple the Baltic States from the Russian power grid in early 2024, compared to a previous plan for end-2025. He said discussions with Estonia and Latvia on the matter had started, and that the European Commission was also involved.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 10:50
Russian gas flows through Ukraine and eastbound Yamal flows steady
Nominations for Russian gas flows into Slovakia from Ukraine via the Velke Kapusany border point remained steady on Wednesday while flows via Nord Stream 1 pipeline remain shut due to maintenance.
Nominations stood at 36.9-million cubic metres (mcm) per day, unchanged form the previous day, data from the Ukrainian transmission system operator showed.
Russian gas producer Gazprom said its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point was expected at 41.3 mcm on Wednesday, unchanged from a day earlier.Similarly, eastbound gas flows via the Yamal-Europe pipeline to Poland from Germany remained stable on Wednesday morning, data from pipeline operator Gascade showed.
Exit flows at the Mallnow metering point on the German border stood at 3,304,451 kWh/h vs levels around 3,300,000 kWh/h the previous day.
Physical gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Germany remained at zero due to annual maintenance which began on July 11, operator data showed. Gas flows through Nord Stream 1 are expected to remain shut until the end of maintenance on July 21, but governments, markets and companies are concerned the shutdown might be extended.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 10:46
China's June exports to Russia tumble while imports remain buoyant
Chinese exports to sanctions-hit Russia tumbled in June for the fourth straight month, while Russian shipments to China continued at an elevated pace, official data showed on Wednesday.
Shipments to Russia fell 17% in June from the same month a year earlier in dollar terms, worse than May's 8.6% year-on-year decline, according to Reuters calculations based on customs data. Imports from Russia, however, surged 56% in June vs the same month in 2021, on top of a jump of 80% in May.
For the first half of the year, China's exports to its neighbour slumped to meagre growth of 2.1%, as international sanctions on Russia bit. Imports, on the other hand, jumped 48%.Russia is a major source of oil, gas, coal and agricultural commodities for China.
Reuters reported that China extended record imports of low-priced Russian crude oil into June despite a Covid-19 lockdown-induced slackening in its total crude oil imports, squeezing out supplies from the Middle East and West Africa.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, an intervention Moscow describes as a “special military operation”. Western countries and their allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces. China has declined to call Russia's action an invasion and has repeatedly said its trade with Russia remains normal.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 10:42
Ukraine needs ICC membership for game to survive
The CEO of Ukraine's cricket board says it “ticks all the boxes” to become an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) and that the game would not survive if it was denied entry.
Ukraine is expected to get second-tier membership at the governing body's board meeting this month, entitling the war-torn country to Twenty20 International status and funds from the ICC, which has earmarked $30.8m for its 96 associate members this year.
The Ukraine Cricket Federation (UCF) has been organising cricket for the last two decades and has a pool of 15,000 students, most of them Indian, at the senior level. Its CEO Kobus Olivier told Reuters it met all the ICC requirements before Russia invaded. “We ticked all the boxes on February 24 when the war started,” he said. “I have so much belief in this process ... and I am absolutely confident Ukraine will be an associate member of the ICC.”
Olivier, a South African, said the ICC should take note of how the EU “fast-tracked” Ukraine's candidate status to join the bloc, saying it set a “very good precedent”.
UCF President Hardeep Singh has made arrangements for national team players to train in India while Olivier set up base in Zagreb after fleeing Kyiv. He is effectively running the UCF's junior and women cricket programmes from Zagreb and engaging refugees, mostly mothers and children, in cricket-in-the-park sessions three days a week.
“These refugee mothers are actually going to make the Ukrainian national team in a couple of years,” said Olivier, whose own escape from Kyiv, along with his four pet dogs, is the subject of a documentary. Olivier is also planning to host a 'Ukrainian Freedom Cup' in Zagreb next month with teams from Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary and Czech Republic.
If the ICC rejects its membership application the consequences for the game in Ukraine would be dire, Olivier said. “It will be the end of cricket in Ukraine,” he said.
The Lord's Taverners, a British charity, and the MCC Foundation, the charity arm of cricket's lawmakers, have given support to the UCF but sponsorship funds have dried up.ICC membership would make the UCF eligible for government funding and could attract new sponsors. “It will be a snowball effect,” said Olivier.
Reuters
July 13 2022 — 10:30
Russia would consider gas transit via Ukraine beyond 2024 — RIA citing foreign ministry
Russia will consider continuing to send gas to Europe via Ukraine beyond its current deal which ends in 2024, as long as European countries still want Russian gas and Ukraine's national transit system works, the RIA Novosti news agency on Wednesday cited the foreign ministry as saying. Despite the war in Ukraine, Russia has continued to ship large quantities of gas across Ukraine into Europe — Moscow's key global customer for its multi-billion dollar gas exports. — Reuters
July 13 2022 — 05:30
Turkey, Russia, Ukraine and UN meeting on grain set for Weds — minister
Turkish defence minister Hulusi Akar said on Tuesday that military delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine will meet a United Nations delegation to discuss the safe export of Ukrainian grain.
The meeting will take place on July 13 in Istanbul, Akar said.
Reuters