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Turkey preparing to host Putin in August

MOSCOW, March 5, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) meets with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Moscow, Russia, on March 5, 2020. Russia and Turkey agreed Thursday on a ceasefire in the de-escalation zone in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib, after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan which lasted for about six hours. (Sputnik/Handout via Xinhua/IANS)

One of the key issues expected on the agenda is whether the Black Sea Grain Initiative will be prolonged, reports Asian Lite News

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan he is ready to host his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Ankara next month for talks on several issues.

“We are preparing to host Putin in August,” Erdogan told reporters in Istanbul.

According to Erdogan, one of the key issues expected on the agenda of the two leaders’ talks is whether the Black Sea Grain Initiative will be prolonged, reports Xinhua news agency.

The deal, brokered by Turkey and the UN that allows Ukraine to export grain and other agricultural products from its Black Sea ports, will expire on July 17.

Erdogan had called for extending the deal last week, stressing that poor African countries in particular are in desperate need of grain shipments from Ukraine.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative was launched in July 2022 to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

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Russia strikes Ukraine’s Odesa port hours after grain deal

Russia targets Ukraine's main port of Odesa hours after grain export deal agreed

Russia targeted Ukraine’s main port of Odesa — through which grain shipments would take place — with cruise missile strikes.

Barely twelve hours after Moscow signed a deal with Ukraine to allow monitored grain exports from Ukraine’s southern ports, Russia targeted its main port of Odesa — through which grain shipments would take place — with cruise missile strikes, media reports said.

“The enemy attacked the Odesa sea trade port with Kalibr cruise missiles,” Ukraine’s Operational Command South wrote on Telegram app, raising new doubts about the viability of the deal which was intended to release some 20 million tonnes of grain to ward of famine in large parts of the developing world, The Guardian reported.

In one of the largest attacks on the city since the war began, the air strikes rattled buildings in the city centre and sent up a plume of smoke that was visible across the city, it said.

On Odesa’s seafront, beachgoers applauded as the city’s air defences brought down two of four missiles, with the remaining two hitting the port. The attack on Odesa was one of a series of Russian strikes across Ukraine, with the city of Kropyvnytsky being hit by 13 missiles on Saturday morning.

The new attacks came hours after Moscow and Kyiv signed deals with the United Nations and Turkey that were intended to avert a global food crisis. The agreements clear the way for the shipment of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain and some Russian exports of grain and fertiliser held up by the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address that the agreements offer “a chance to prevent a global catastrophe a famine that could lead to political chaos in many countries of the world, in particular in the countries that help us”, The Guardian reported.

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