German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is urging Russia to ease the global food crisis by helping to facilitate grain shipments from blockaded Ukrainian ports.
"You have to hope for the world's sake that an agreement is reached," Scholz said, referring to to ongoing negotiations about establishing an export corridor across the Black Sea.
"Russia must enable safe passage and at the same time give credible assurances that it will not use the corridor for an invasion," he told dpa.
"It can't be that ships carrying grain leave Ukrainian ports and Russian warships head for the ports."
Russia's invasion of neighbouring Ukraine in late February disrupted deliveries to markets, pushing global food prices higher and threatening mass starvation in some countries heavily reliant on Ukrainian grain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky criticized Russia on Thursday after meeting with Scholz and other European leaders in Kiev, saying Russia was causing a food crisis in areas of Africa and Asia by preventing grain exports due to a naval blockade.
Ukraine and the West accuse Moscow of weaponizing food supplies, but Russia has blamed sea mines and sanctions for the export halt.
Scholz said Germany supports UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres' efforts to establish an export corridor.
Asked whether a UN mission to secure access to Ukrainian ports such as Odessa was possible, the chancellor said: "All of these issues are currently being negotiated, but to speculate publicly about them would make these difficult negotiations even more complicated than they already are, so I'm not doing that."
The crisis will also be a topic at the June 26-28 G7 summit, which Scholz is hosting at Bavaria's luxury hotel Schloss Elmau.
