Zelensky: Grain deal and people's lives cannot depend on Putin's mood

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for ensuring the stable and safe operation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which would not depend on the mood and whims of the Russian leader.

Zelensky said this at a joint news conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The whole world is interested in the functioning of the 'grain corridor.' It is very important. And it is very important that we start acting with our partners so that the life of the 'grain corridor' and therefore the lives of other people on other continents, including Africa and Asia, do not depend on the mood with which the Russian president woke up. We are all independent states, we currently have this corridor, it exists. It is not free, but it is structured and complicated due to the fact that Russia is blocking the Black Sea," Zelensky said.

He noted that there should be other corridors in the Black Sea, including those that would allow the passage of ships that have been stuck in Ukrainian ports in the Mykolaiv region since February 2022.

The president said that to make that happen, "it is necessary that Russia simply does not shoot at these vessels so that they can be released and unblocked.

He said he did not see the point of meeting every two months and every time thinking about how to ensure the operation of the "grain corridor."

"We don't need to get together. We have a lot of different problems and challenges. We cannot gather every time to think about how people around the world should live the next two months, about how to negotiate again. It is very important to do everything so that this corridor does not depend on the wishes of one state," Zelensky said.

At the same time, he added that recently Russia has been blocking the movement of grain ships through corridors in the Black Sea as much as it could.

"Russia behaves as if it owns the Black Sea, as if it is the master here. The peoples of our region need greater efforts to limit Russia's aggressive ambitions and guarantee stability in the Black Sea region," Zelensky said.

Photo: TRT Haber