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French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday called on Russia to agree a solution at the UN to unblock Ukrainian grain exports and ease an emerging global food crisis.
Mr Macron said at the end of a two-day European summit in Brussels that he and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had proposed such a solution for the port of Odesa to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The summit heard from the chair of the African Union that t.
Russia, blamed by western powers for engineering the food crisis, said on Tuesday it was up to Ukraine to remove mines from coastal waters.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Russian navy was willing to secure safe passage to the Mediterranean and beyond if the necessary demining took place.
Ukraine said it too was exploring a possible UN-led operation involving the navies of partner countries.
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Rescuers carry the body of civilian from a residential building damaged by shelling in Kharkiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, is feeling the strain after coming under heavy Russian bombardment. Reuters -
Ukrainian troops help an elderly man out of a damaged apartment building after an air strike in the city of Slovyansk in Donbas region. AFP -
A school bus carrying Ukrainian refugees leaves Kharkiv. EPA -
The pain of war hits this woman hard shortly after her apartment building in Slovyansk was damaged by Russian shelling. AFP -
A crater scars the road surface in Slovyansk, Donbas. AFP -
A Russian soldier oversees the loading of steel on to a Russian ship at Mariupol port in Ukraine. AP -
European Council President Charles Michel, right, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, left, talk before the second day's session of an extraordinary meeting of EU leaders to discuss Ukraine, energy and food security, in Brussels. AP -
Rescuers extinguish a fire at a meat factory, amid fighting in Mykolaiv, Ukraine. Reuters -
A man waits to collect water in Mariupol. AFP -
Ukrainians cross a makeshift bridge built next to a destroyed structure, in the Kharkiv region. EPA -
A destroyed tank in Mariupol. AFP -
People charge electronic devices outside a theatre building, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Pensioner Gennady Ivanov, 83, sits outside a residential building heavily damaged by shelling, in Mariupol. Reuters -
Ukrainian firefighters try to extinguish a fire at a house that was hit by Russian strikes, in Kharkiv. AP -
Russian Navy sailors of the Black Sea Fleet prepare to raise a sunken Ukrainian warship at the sea port, in Mariupol. AP -
A Ukrainian soldier in the city of Lysytsansk, in the eastern region of Donbas. AFP -
A boy, Yarik, plays in a playground in front a building destroyed during attacks, in Irpin. AP -
Two Ukrainian soldiers enjoy a tender off-duty moment near the village of Stoyanka, Kyiv region. GettyImages -
A girl in Kyiv looks at Russian weapons used in the attack on Ukraine. Reuters -
Children play on a destroyed car in a residential area of Mariupol. AFP -
Demonstrators hold Ukrainian flags at a charity telethon in support of Ukraine, in Berlin. Reuters -
Ukrainian servicemen near Zaytseve village in Donetsk, Ukraine. EPA -
A shell hole near a destroyed building in Zaytseve village. EPA -
In the Saltivka district of Kharkiv, writing on the vans reads "warning, shelling" and "warning, passing by for civilians is prohibited". AFP -
A heavily damaged residential building in the Saltivka district of Kharkiv. AFP -
Ukrainian servicemen inspect a Russian amphibious vehicle near Kharkiv, eastern Ukraine. AP -
A rocket launcher belonging to a "Donetsk People's Republic" militia is fired from its position not far from Panteleimonivka, eastern Ukraine. AP -
The damaged building of the economics department of Karazin National University in Kharkiv. AFP -
Karazin National University in Kharkiv came under heavy Russian bombardment. AFP -
Ukrainian troops approach a destroyed military vehicle in the village of Rus'ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv. AFP -
A bridge is a destroyed near Rus'ka Lozova, north of Kharkiv. AFP -
A building after a Russian military strike in the town of Marinka, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Donetsk region. Reuters -
An employee mows the lawn near a destroyed warehouse refrigerator, belonging to the Chanta factory, in Novi Petrivtsi, near Kyiv. AFP -
Defiant Ukrainian service members ride on top of a military vehicle, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine, on the road connecting Kostiantynivka and Bakhmut, in Donetsk region. Reuters -
Vladimir Mihailovich, a solar plant manager, surveys a crater after the business in Merefa on the outskirts of Kharkiv was hit by Russian shelling. Reuters -
A KA-52 helicopter gunship fires rockets on a mission at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. AP -
Locals walk past a road damaged by shelling in a residential area in Kharkiv. EPA -
Diana, on the train, waves to her mother Viktoriya and sister Kseniya as she leaves Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. AP -
Yana Skakova and her son Yehor, who fled from Lysychansk, sit in an evacuation train in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine. AP
Mr Macron said any deal with Russia at the UN would require guarantees for Ukraine that Moscow’s troops would not exploit a gap in coastal defences created by the opening of food corridors.
European Council president Charles Michel is planning to meet with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres next week to explore how to export the grain via sea routes, an EU official said.
The talks on food security came after the European Union agreed to ban the majority of Russian oil imports, a breakthrough in its efforts to deprive the Kremlin of funding during its onslaught on Ukraine.
The overnight deal in Brussels will ban oil shipments by sea but leave pipelines open, a concession to the main holdout Hungary.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the agreement would effectively cut off 90 per cent of Russian oil imports by the end of the year.
Kremlin ally Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian president, responded on Tuesday that sanctions would not affect the political elite or fatally wound big business but were “directed precisely against the people of Russia”.
The EU said it would revisit the exemptions given to Hungary and other landlocked countries as soon as possible.
But several leaders said there was little prospect of sanctions being extended to gas, after haggling over oil described as “very stormy” by Poland threatened to undermine western unity over the war.
“This is an important step. Let’s stop there for the moment,” said Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer said a gas embargo would not be on the table in a possible seventh sanctions package.
The sixth package, which still needs final approval as a legal text, will also ban Russian ships from being insured in Europe and will cut more Russian banks out of international payments system Swift.
Denis Shmyhal, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, said he was grateful to European leaders for their support after the government in Kyiv had bemoaned the slow approval process.
EU leaders also agreed a four-point plan to end the dependency on Russian energy that has limited their freedom of action over Ukraine.
The strategy, which Ms von der Leyen wants to back with 300 billion euros ($321bn) of EU funds, rests on finding new oil and gas suppliers, expanding renewable energy, saving power and connecting up power grids.
Chancellor Scholz announced at the same summit that his country had made a deal with Greece to send infantry fighting vehicles so that Athens can forward its Soviet-era equipment to Ukraine.
