Ukraine will do its best to continue exporting its grain, despite Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal, Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelenskyi said on Monday.
"Even without Russia, it is necessary to spare no effort so that we could use this Black Sea corridor", he said in an interview with African journalists, fragments of which were posted by his spokesman, Sergey Nikiforov, on his Facebook account.
According to the Ukrainian president, shipowners have allegedly reassured him that they are ready to continue to ship grain from Ukrainian ports "if Ukraine lets them out and Turkey lets them through".
"I have instructed our foreign ministry after the official notification from Russia to prepare our official messages to the United Nations and Turkey so that they tell me as the Ukrainian president that they are ready to continue our initiative", he added.
“This is another attempt by Russia to weaponize hunger and destabilize the global food market,” Zelensky said in a post on his Telegram page.
