Russian and Ukrainian militaries set to discuss grain exports

Farmer Serhiy shows grain in his barn in the village of Ptyche in eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Military officials from Russia and Ukraine are set to hold their governments’ first face-to-face talks in months during a session in Istanbul devoted to a United Nations plan to export blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea.

Turkish military officials and UN representatives also plan to participate in the discussion focused on finding a way to get millions of tons of grain sitting in silos amid the war in Ukraine shipped out of the country’s ports toward the Mediterranean.