Putin's Warning, Erdogan And Zelenskyy Fixed To Discuss The Continuation Of The Black Sea Food Agreement

JAKARTA - Russia has warned that starting Thursday, July 20, any ship sailing to Ukraine's Black Sea port will be deemed to have the potential to carry military cargo.

The day after, on Friday, July 21, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held telephone talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the continuation of the Black Sea food deal.

"The two leaders discussed further in extending the Black Sea food corridor agreement during telephone talks held at President Zelenskyy's request," the Turkish Communications Directorate said on Twitter, quoted by ANTARA, Saturday, July 22.

In his conversation, Erdogan stated that Turkey had made "intensive efforts" in maintaining peace.

Russia this week withdrew from the Black Sea food export agreement because it assessed that several parts of the deal related to Russia's interests had not been fulfilled until now.

The agreement signed by Turkey, the United Nations, Russia, and Ukraine in July last year was aimed at continuing food exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that had stalled due to the Ukraine war.

The deal has been updated several times and extended over two months on May 18.