Ukrainian formin talks about unblocking of Odessa port with his Lithuanian counterpart

Ukrainian formin talks about unblocking of Odessa port with his Lithuanian counterpart

VILNIUS – Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Saturday had a phone call with his “Lithuanian colleague and friend” Gabrielius Landsbergis to discuss the unblocking of the port of Odessa.

“We work closely together to solve the problem of unblocking Ukrainian food exports. Lithuania fully understands and shares Ukraine’s security concerns. We need more heavy weapons to protect Odessa from the sea,” he said in a Twitter post.

Ukraine, one of the largest grains exporters in the world, cannot use its Black Sea ports, which have been blocked by Russian naval forces.

The West is considering shipping Ukrainian grain by rail via other European countries, which, however, is a difficult task, given the existing large grain volumes.

Kyiv calls on the West either to send warships that could escort cargo ships and protect them from Kremlin’s forces, or to send more sophisticated modern weapons to Ukraine.