Washington: United States has welcomed Turkey’s attempts to broker an agreement to safely get grain out of Ukraine. The statement comes in the backdrop of Russia and Turkey agreeing to move forwards with talks for safe sea corridor in the Black Sea to export grain from the troubled country.
Turkey’s defence ministry earlier had said that there dry cargo vessel, the Azov Concord, has safely exited from Mariupol as a result of the talks.
According to Reuters the ship was the maiden foreign ship to leave the port since the conflict erupted in Ukraine on Feb 24.
John Kirby, the national security spokesman, commended Turkey for its role in brokering the deal for a safe extraction of grain, since Ukraine is among the top global wheat suppliers.
“The United States is working with allies and partners to get some grain out of Ukraine, exports that have been thwarted by Russia’s incursion on Ukraine,” Kirby said.
Global shortages were caused due to dangers in transportation eventhough United Nations appealed to Russia and Ukraine, and maritime neighbour Turkey, ‘to agree to a corridor’.
“Mariupol, on Ukraine’s southern coast, fell under the control of Russian and separatist forces in May after a months-long siege,” Reuters had reported.
Kirby said that US certainly welcomes Türkiye’s involvement in trying to ‘broker some kind of arrangement to allow shipping of grain.’
“There was a blockade in the Black Sea,” Kirby noted.
