Minister: Ukraine needs assurances to resume grain exports

Military officials from Russia and Ukraine are set to hold a meeting in Istanbul to discuss a United Nations plan to export blocked Ukrainian grain to world markets through the Black Sea (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

The Ukrainian foreign minister says grain exports from his country’s ports will not resume without security guarantees for ship owners, cargo owners and Ukraine as an independent nation.

Military officials from Russia and Ukraine were set to hold their governments’ first face-to-face talks in months on Wednesday.