Three more ships with grain depart Ukrainian ports after Russian blockade
NBCDec 27, 2022
Day 163 Roundup: Turkey's Erdoğan Meets Putin in Russia; Zelenskyy Condemns Amnesty
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Image copyright: Reuters [via Al Jazeera]
The Facts
On the back of a successful deal to resume the exports of Ukrainian grain, Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met with counterpart Vladimir Putin at the Russian resort of Sochi on Friday. The pair were expected to discuss bilateral ties and Ukraine, as well as the conflict in Syria.
After the first shipment of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odesa on Mon., three more ships departed on Fri., Turkey's defense ministry confirmed. Two traveled from Chornomorsk and one from Odesa. They will be inspected at the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul before setting off towards destinations in Turkey, Ireland and Britain.
The Spin
Pro-establishment narrative
As the war shifts to the strategically important Donbas region of Donetsk, the US and its allies need to continue to do everything in their power to arm Ukraine with all the weapons they need. Doing so is the only way to push Putin's forces back as was done in Kyiv.
Pro-Russia narrative
As stated by Putin, the whole purpose of the war was never to invade Kyiv, but to liberate the ethnically Russian people of Donetsk and Luhansk, who have been subjected to systematic killing by Ukrainian forces for not recognizing the 2014 coup in Kyiv.
