F-16 fighters to help Ukraine with grain export by sea - Kuleba

The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, stated this in an interview with the France24 channel, Ukrinform reports.

"Absolutely, if we have F-16s, we will not depend on Russian blackmail in exporting Ukrainian grain to global markets. So the sooner we receive them, the sooner we will be able to launch a new (grain - ed.) corridor – protected, efficient, and that will function without any hindrances. And then millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain will make it to the global market, stabilizing prices, lowering them, helping people to avoid famine," he said.

According to Kuleba, the most important consequence of this will be that Russia will lose the opportunity to blackmail the world.

The minister also stated that the demand of a number of EU countries to extend restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural imports after September 15 is unacceptable.

"The demand coming from certain countries to extend the application of EU restrictions (on Ukrainian agricultural imports - ed.) beyond September 15 also goes against their own interests. And we should also be mindful about the fact that one of the reasons why Russia is destroying Ukrainian agriculture grain infrastructure is because they want to provoke additional tensions between Ukraine and respective neighbors. And we should not play into the hands of Putin. We should not play his game. And we are working closely with our partners, friends, neighbors to avoid the situation where Putin will be sitting and laughing in the Kremlin, observing how other countries insist that Ukrainian grain should not enter their countries," Kuleba added.

As reported by Ukrinform, the European Union extended until September 15, 2023 the exceptional and extraordinary precautionary measures that were adopted in May regarding the import of Ukrainian grain to five EU countries bordering Ukraine.