Ukraine says Turkish President Erdogan can bring Black Sea grain deal ‘back on track’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) – Ukraine has said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan can bring the Black Sea grain deal “back on track.”

“Yes, I think he can. We know that Turkish diplomacy is working with the Russian one,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in an interview with Italian daily Corriere della Sera on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Kuleba also said that they are building “alternative ways to export wheat and other products without going through the Black Sea.”

“We need a certain creativity to find solutions. We will look for them by any means, but, at the moment, the conditions are not there: Russia continues to attack us, she prefers war to peace,” he added.

On July 17, Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea grain deal, saying that the Russian part of the agreement was not implemented. It sought the loosening of banking restrictions and the ability to ship its fertilizer before returning to the agreement.

The agreement, initially signed in July of last year in Istanbul by Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports halted due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022.

Türkiye has said that Western countries should try to address Russia’​​​​​​​s complaints and that it hopes Russia returns to the deal.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​