EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell hopes for Ukraine grain deal ‘this week’

The EU’s chief diplomat hopes for a deal “this week” on allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported from Black Sea ports, potentially unblocking supplies of food to global markets curbed by Russia’s war.

Russia’s invasion and attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea coastline have prevented ships from accessing the country’s ports, leaving millions of tonnes of grain stranded amid fears of a major food crisis.

“I have a hope that this week it will be possible to reach an agreement to unblock Odesa and other Ukrainian ports,” said Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative. “The life of thousands, more than thousands, tens of thousands of people depends on this agreement. It is not a diplomatic game. It is an issue of life or death for many.”

Borrell spoke ahead of a meeting of EU foreign affairs ministers on Monday. Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba will address the meeting and provide an update on talks between Ukraine, Russia and Turkey on efforts to find a deal to export the grain, a senior EU official told the Financial Times.

Diplomatic efforts to unblock the grain exports have inched forwards in recent weeks. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin will meet his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Tehran on Tuesday where a deal on Black Sea access could be sealed.

UN-brokered talks last week made “very substantive progress”, the organisation’s secretary-general said.