LFrench President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday May 31 that he had proposed to Vladimir Putin the vote of a resolution at the UN to lift the Russian blockade of the port of Odessa, the objective being to allow the export of Ukrainian cereals which are there. are blocked. “I proposed, in the discussion we had with (German Chancellor) Olaf Scholz last Saturday, to President Putin that we take the initiative of a resolution at the United Nations to give a very clear framework to this operation” , he declared after a European summit in Brussels.
Indeed, for several weeks, Russia has been imposing a blockade on Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea, in particular that of Odessa. And this, while Ukraine is desperately seeking to export the approximately 20 million tonnes of grain stored in the silos of the country by the next harvests expected this summer, which will in turn need to be stored.
“The decision depends on an agreement from Russia and the guarantees it provides: in the face of mine clearance (of the port of Odessa) which is essential so that bulk carriers and ships can be transported and take these cereals, (it is necessary) security guarantees provided to the Ukrainians to prevent them from being attacked,” insisted the French president. kyiv needs “legitimate security guarantees, it is the United Nations framework that will allow us to do so”, added the Head of State, while also stressing “the very important role of Turkey, given its responsibility in the Black Sea” and its recent exchanges with Moscow.
“Priority roads” temporarily put in place
“There is no question that, under the cover of a maritime corridor for humanitarian reasons, there is a weakening of the security situation in Ukraine”, added Charles Michel, President of the Council, to the press. representative body of the Member States.
In the immediate future, the European Commission has also proposed setting up “priority routes” by road and rail, by mobilizing the EU’s freight capacities, to transport part of the blocked cereal stocks. “We are working on this Commission proposal, and discussed at the summit the different possibilities for finding alternative routes, but it is complicated, for logistical reasons, and it is more expensive”, underlined the president of the European Council. These alternative routes by train and by road will at best make it possible to transport a third of wheat stocks, a European official told Agence France-Presse.
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