Zelenskyy: Russia ties Black Sea grain ceasefire to Ukrainian strikes on refineries
Russia is not ready to halt attacks on ships carrying agricultural exports in the Black Sea unless Ukraine stops striking Russian refineries and pipelines, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, according to Reuters.
Zelenskyy said he had proposed to foreign leaders that their countries use their own vessels to transport food from Ukrainian ports. In return, Ukraine would refrain from attacking their ships when they collect agricultural exports from Russia.
Moscow, however, wants any agreement on Ukraine’s grain corridor to also cover Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, Zelenskyy said.
“For Russia, it’s not about the grain. It’s exclusively about their energy sector, but the two are not comparable,” he said.
Zelenskyy added that any agreement under which Ukraine stopped striking Russian oil refineries and fuel transportation infrastructure would have to include a reciprocal halt to Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy system.
Russia has intensified attacks on shipping through Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor in recent weeks. Several foreign-flagged civilian vessels were hit in July, killing crew members and disrupting traffic through the corridor.
Ukraine and Russia are both major agricultural exporters, making disruptions to Black Sea shipping relevant to global food markets.