West seeks to unblock Ukraine’s grain ports
Western officials yesterday tried to coax Russia into allowing Ukraine to ship its grain out to the world as the four-month-old war threatened to bring hunger to countries far away from the battlefields.
Moscow, however, accused the West of waging economic warfare on Russia by attempting to isolate it with sanctions imposed over the February 24 invasion.
On the frontlines in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, officials reported continued Russian shelling of towns and villages ahead of an anticipated new push to grasp more territory.
At a meeting of G20 foreign ministers in Bali, Indonesia, some of the staunchest critics of the Russian invasion confronted the Kremlin's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov.
High on their concerns was getting grain shipments from Ukraine out of blockaded Black Sea ports.
At a plenary session, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Moscow to let Ukrainian grain out to the world, a Western official said.
"He addressed Russia directly, saying: 'To our Russian colleagues: Ukraine is not your country. Its grain is not your grain. Why are you blocking the ports? You should let the grain out,'" the official said.
Earlier, Lavrov had berated the West, saying that instead of focusing on how to tackle global economic problems at the meeting, ministers had embarked on "frenzied criticism" of Russia over the Ukraine conflict, reports Reuters.
He walked out of a morning session as German counterpart Annalena Baerbock criticised Moscow over its invasion, diplomats said.
Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi called on the G20 to "find a way forward" to address global challenges and said the repercussions of the war, including rising energy and food prices, would hit poor countries the hardest.
The biggest conflict in Europe since World War Two has killed thousands, displaced millions and flattened Ukrainian cities.
On Sunday, Moscow declared it had "liberated" Luhansk and now plans to capture parts of neighbouring Donetsk it does not control.
Luhansk governor Serhiy Gaidai said yesterday Russian forces were indiscriminately shelling villages, towns and cities.
The situation was similar in settlements in Donetsk. Vadym Lyakh, the mayor of Sloviansk in Donetsk, said a woman was killed overnight when Russian shelling hit a residential building.
Britain's defence ministry said Russian forces were likely to be pausing to replenish before undertaking new offensive operations in Donetsk. The ministry said Russia's immediate tactical objective might be Siversk, a small industrial city in the north of Donetsk.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in his video message, said the raising of the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island in the Black Sea on Thursday was a sign his country would not be broken.
"Let every Russian captain, aboard a ship or a plane, see the Ukrainian flag on Snake Island and let him know that our country will not be broken," Zelensky said.
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