ANKARA, August 31. /TASS/. Turkey and Ukraine have discussed the grain deal and "continued commercial traffic in the Black Sea," Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.

"We held a videoconference with Alexander Kubrakov, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and minister of infrastructure and regional development. During the meeting, we discussed the recently suspended grain corridor initiative, the continuation of commercial freight in the Black Sea and possible investment cooperation in Ukraine’s infrastructure. We are always supportive of Ukraine and continue to provide it with assistance," he wrote on the X social media platform (formerly known as Twitter).

On August 31 in Moscow, talks were held between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan who, among other things, discussed the grain deal. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the two top diplomats intended to work on the parameters of implementing an initiative to arrange deliveries of one million tons of Russian grain at a discount to Turkey, with Qatar then financing the processing of such supplies at Turkish companies for subsequent shipment to the neediest countries.

The Black Sea grain deal ceased to function on July 17. After agreeing several times since the inception of the grain deal in July 2022 to extend the agreement to provide a shipping corridor across the Black Sea for vessels carrying Ukrainian grain, Moscow reiterated that the Russia-related provisions of the accords on the removal of obstacles to agricultural exports were never implemented. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Russian side would consider resurrecting the Black Sea Grain Initiative as soon as all obligations to Moscow were fulfilled.