The Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom Ben Wallace rejected Russiaʼs proposal to ease sanctions against it in exchange for a corridor for grain exports from Ukraine.
This was reported by Reuters.
"Itʼs a grain for everyone, for Libya, for Yemen. People all over the world rely on this grain to feed themselves. I call on Russia to do the right thing — in the spirit of humanity, to enable Ukraine to export grain and stop stealing it. We will not talk about sanctions, letʼs do the right thing," the Defense Minister said.
Instead, Wallace welcomed the offer of other Black Sea countries, such as Turkey, to accompany grain supplies from Ukraine.
Ukraine expects this yearʼs harvest to be approximately 70% of the last yearʼs, as some fields are now under Russian control or mined.
- On May 25, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Rudenko said the country was ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for the departure of food carriers from Ukraine in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions.
- The United Kingdom and its allies are developing a potential plan to send warships to the Black Sea to escort ships exporting Ukrainian grain. The "coalition of volunteers" should break the blockade of Russia in a few weeks, providing a "protective corridor" from Odesa through the Bosphorus.