US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during the two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the G20, said there was growing interest by the international community in facilitating a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea to ensure unfettered energy and grain shipments by Russia and Ukraine.
Rubio told a news conference that the US is reviewing proposals by Turkey and India to get grain shipments moving, even as the US continues to press for a broader, negotiated settlement of the war in Ukraine.
Canadian foreign minister Anita Anand told Reuters that she had spoken with Ukraine’s foreign minister, as well as her counterpart from India, about enacting a limited ceasefire in the Black Sea and putting a moratorium on attacks on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure.
Anand said a number of interlocutors were pushing for some kind of ceasefire, with a huge focus on shoring up food supply chains and brokering an end to attacks on Ukraine’s electrical grid and energy infrastructure before the coming winter.
“We have to address these issues now as Ukraine approaches the winter. Canada had been engaged in significant and specific talks about a Black Sea ceasefire since the United Nations General Assembly in September,” Reuters quoted the Canadian foreign minister.
“India and Egypt are heavily affected, and want to ensure that their own ships — and sailors — remained safe. Ukraine was fully engaged on the issue, but Russia had not shown it was willing to move ahead,” Anand said.
Rubio urged G20 participants to cooperate where possible given the complex web of economic and geopolitical challenges facing nearly every country.
