Lithuanian foreign minister calls on allies to secure Ukraine's grain exports with military escorts
Following Russia's announcement that it suspends the U.N.-brokered grain deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported through the Black Sea ports, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said that "negotiating with Russia doesn't work." Landsbergis added that if Putin continues to jeopardize Ukraine's grain exports, "the free world must unite to safeguard shipping with military escorts."
"Longer-range coastal defences in the Black Sea along with military escorts for shipping would boost Ukraine's economy, secure grain exports and avert a global food crisis," the minister wrote on Twitter on Oct. 29. "We simply cannot trust the occupier that is stealing Ukraine's grain to be honest in negotiations over exporting Ukraine's grain."
Russia suspended its participation in the deal after what it claims was an Oct 29 drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet’s ships in the occupied Sevastopol.
