Zelensky: Ukraine not ready to consider grain exports through Belarus

Ukraine is not ready to consider the option of grain exports through Belarus.

“As for the Belarusians, this is open information. We were offered to go through Belarus by rail. Yes. We understand what the volume is. We understand why we were offered this. We are not ready to work in this format and help our ‘friendly’ neighbors," President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on June 6.

As reported, Russian President Putin called a "bluff" the message that Russia hinders the grain exports from Ukraine, provoking a food crisis, and pointed out possible export options. In particular, the simplest and cheapest option, in his opinion, is the export through Belarus.

Read also: Kuleba on Putin's promises not to use trade routes to attack Odesa: His words are empty

Earlier, Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal accused Russia of deliberate exacerbation of the global food crisis, condemned the blockade of Ukrainian ports, and called on the United Nations and international partners to take decisive joint action to respond to these challenges.

According to the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine, the occupiers steal Ukrainian grain in the temporarily occupied territories. Stolen grain is transported either to Russia (primarily from Kharkiv, Donetsk, Luhansk regions) or through the temporarily occupied Crimea (from Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions).

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