ISTANBUL: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Wednesday on his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin not to escalate tensions, after Moscow struck facilities vital for grain shipments from Ukraine.
Erdogan told Putin during a phone call that no steps should be taken that would escalate tensions, emphasising the significance of a grain deal that he called a “bridge for peace,” according to the Turkish leader’s office.
The accord, brokered by Turkey and the United Nations, allowed Ukraine to export grain via its Black Sea ports, but it collapsed last month after Moscow withdrew.
Russia has been pounding Odesa, a centuries-old city on the shores of the Black Sea and one of Ukraine’s main ports, since Moscow withdrew from a grain deal last month that allowed Kyiv’s exports despite the war.
The landmark deal had allowed the shipment of around 33 million tonnes of grain to leave Ukrainian ports.
Formerly obscure ports, Izmail and Reni, have become crucial to global food supplies and are struggling to process all the grain, causing a massive bottleneck.
The Danube River port of Izmail is now the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products. But these ports have also become targets: Russia attacked Reni with drones on July 24.
Last week, Kyiv said it lacks the means to defend itself against strikes on its grain infrastructure carried out by Russia, which is blocking “virtually all” Ukrainian ports, according to an army spokeswoman.
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