Ukraine Agrees on Grain Exports Through Croatia, Foreign Minister Kuleba: Contribution to World Food Security

The seed-carrying ship from Ukraine via the Black Sea arrived in Turkey. (Source: Ukrainian Foreign Ministry)

JAKARTA - Ukraine and Croatia have agreed to use the Balkan country's ports for grain exports, hoping to avoid a global food crisis, said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba after a meeting with his colleague Gordan Grlic Radman.

Foreign Minister Kuleba said that it is likely that Croatian ports that will be used for Ukrainian grain exports are ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea.

"Now we will work to build the most efficient route to these ports and make the most of this opportunity," Foreign Minister Kuleba said after receiving Foreign Minister Radman in Kyiv, reported by Reuters, August 1.

"Every contribution to opening the blockade of exports, every door opened is a real and effective contribution to world food security," continued Kuleba.

Ukraine itself is currently dependent on overland export routes through the European Union, as well as an alternative route through the Danube. Russia attacked infrastructure along the latter route earlier this month.

Foreign Minister Kuleba added that the main topic of his talks with his Croatian counterpart was weapons.

"I will just say, there are specific agreements that will be implemented soon," he said without giving details.

Russia is known to have walked out of the UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal this month, depriving Ukraine, as a global producer, of a vital route for the safe export of its agricultural products during the war.

The United Nations and the international community are concerned that this will cause a global food crisis, considering that Russia and Ukraine are the world's main grain exporters.

Most recently, the leader of the world Catholic Church Pope Francis on Sunday asked Russia to reverse its decision to abandon the Black Sea grain deal, in which Russia allowed Ukraine to export grain from its ports despite the ongoing war.

"I appeal to my brethren, the authorities of the Russian Federation, so that the Black Sea initiative can be continued and grain can be safely transported," Pope Francis said in his weekly message.

The leader of the world's nearly 1.4 billion Catholics said "the cries of millions of hungry brothers and sisters rose to heaven".

Global wheat prices have surged since Russia abandoned the UN-brokered deal with Turkey on July 17, accompanied by attacks on Ukraine's ports and grain infrastructure on the Black Sea and Danube.