Britain is offering its expertise to help grain exports leave Ukrainian ports under a UN plan, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said, as she accused Vladimir Putin of “using food security as a callous tool of war”.
Ms Truss held a meeting with her Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Ankara on Thursday to discuss the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Cavusoglu said the government was investigating claims that Ukrainian grain had been stolen by Russia and said no such shipments would be accepted by Turkey.
Mr Putin, the Russian President, was “holding the world to ransom” by preventing cereal from leaving Ukraine, Ms Truss said.
“It’s very clear that Ukrainian ports must be protected,” she said. “There needs to be safe passage for commercial vessels. And the United Kingdom is offering expertise on all of those fronts to make sure that we have the measures in place so that grain can safely leave. But it is going to require an international effort.”
“Putin is weaponising hunger, he is using food security as a callous tool of war. He has blocked Ukrainian ports and is stopping 20 million tonnes of grain being exported across the globe, holding the world to ransom.”
Mr Cavusoglu said his country was investigating alleged cases of Russia stealing Ukrainian grain.
Kyiv's ambassador to Ankara Vasyl Bodna this month said Turkish buyers were among those receiving grain that Russia had stolen from Ukraine. He said he had sought Turkey's help to identify and capture those responsible for the alleged shipments.
Mr Cavusoglu said: "We take every claim seriously and are investigating them seriously. We notify especially the Ukrainian side of the result every time.”
Russia has denied the allegations of stealing Ukrainian grain. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the matter.
As well as food security and the effects of the war in Ukraine on the wider region, Ms Truss and Mr Cavusoglu discussed next week's Nato summit.
Leaders of the alliance’s 30 member states will gather in Madrid, where Finland and Sweden’s bids to join will be high on the agenda.
The two northern European countries have come up against opposition from Turkey over their plans for membership.
Talks between Finland, Sweden and Turkey about the applications will continue and the summit is not a deadline, Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.
Ukraine war in pictures
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Ukrainian servicemen in a shelter at the frontline near Kharkiv. AP -
A Ukrainian and his puppy in the Donetsk region. AP -
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, third left, is shown apartment buildings damaged by Russian shelling during his visit to Irpin on the outskirts of Kyiv. AP -
Rescue specialists work at the site of a destroyed residential building after blasts in Belgorod, Russia. Reuters -
A woman lays flowers during a demonstration against the invasion of Ukraine in front of the Palais des Nations, in Geneva, Switzerland. EPA -
A woman injured when her house was damaged by the Russian shelling sits in the yard of her house, in Bakhmut, Ukraine. AP -
Local residents stand next to a damaged residential building in the town of Serhiivka, about 50 kilometres south-west of Odesa, Ukraine. AP -
Viktor Shevchenko stands in a crater to show its depth after a Russian shelling in the Saltivka district in Kharkiv. AP -
An image taken from a video provided by the Ukrainian Presidential Press Office purports to show the moment a missile struck the shopping mall in Kremenchuk. AP -
People watch as smoke rises after a Russian missile strike hit a crowded shopping mall, in Kremenchuk. AP -
Firefighters clean the rubble of the destroyed Amstor shopping mall in Kremenchuk. EPA -
A woman cries after the body of her husband, who was killed in the yard of an apartment building during shelling, was loaded into an ambulance in Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP -
Firefighters and rescue workers at the destroyed Amstor shopping mall. EPA -
Rescuers work at the site of a shopping mall hit by a Russian missile strike, in Kremenchuk. Reuters -
A couple wounded by a Russian missile strike hold hands in a hospital, in Kremenchuk. Reuters -
People wait to receive humanitarian aid in front of a residential building damaged during a Russian attack in Borodyanka, Ukraine. EPA -
Ukrainian servicemen take a bus to their positions near Severodonetsk, in Luhansk area. EPA -
A Ukrainian service member and a dog in the industrial area of the city of Severodonetsk. Reuters -
A couple sits in front of a residential building that was damaged during a Russian attack, in Borodyanka. EPA -
Local residents receive humanitarian aid in Borodyanka. EPA -
A Ukrainian armed forces tank in Severodonetsk. Reuters -
Ukrainian service members walk past a damaged car in Severodonetsk. Reuters -
A giant Ukrainian flag is held up during the benefit concert 'Embrace Ukraine' on the Museumplein in Amsterdam. The free event will raise money for victims of the war in Ukraine and the purchase of mobile X-ray equipment that the country needs. EPA -
A fire from a gas processing plant continues to burn behind a field of wheat after it was hit by shelling a few days earlier in Andriivka, in the Kharkiv region. Reuters -
An onlooker takes in the damage from overnight shelling on Kharkiv's Housing and Communal College. Reuters -
A destroyed tank in the village of Novoselivka, outside Chernigiv. AFP -
A man decorates a toy cabin for children made from used ammunition crates in the village of Novoselivka, outside Chernigiv. AFP -
An internal view of the Housing and Communal College building damaged by recent shelling in Kharkiv. EPA
