Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov began a two-day visit to Turkey on Tuesday for talks on unblocking grain exports from Ukraine, which have been stalled by Moscow’s offensive amid a UN warning of worldwide food crisis due to the war. This comes as fighting intensifies in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said he hoped issues relating to grain shipments from ports in Ukraine could be resolved, provided Kyiv de-mines the waters around them. Speaking alongside his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara, Lavrov said Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine was going according to plan and that peace talks would need to resume before there was any chance of presidential talks between President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Turkey’s foreign minister said a UN plan to open a corridor to restart Ukrainian grain exports was reasonable and requires more talks with all sides to ensure ships would be safe.

Speaking alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Turkey’s Mevlut Cavusoglu said their meeting in Ankara was fruitful, including a will to return to negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv for a possible ceasefire.

Source: France 24