Leaders of Türkiye, Ukraine and UN to meet in Lviv

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have accepted an invition from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet on Aug. 18 to review the deal allowing Ukrainian grain to be shipped to world markets to help alleviate the global grain crisis and discuss ways to end the six-month-old war.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Tuesday that he has no doubt the three leaders will also discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling.

Dujarric said they also will likely talk about a U.N. fact-finding mission to investigate the killings at the Olenivka prison in a separatist region of eastern Ukraine that the warring nations accuse each other of carrying out.

He said he expects "the need for a political solution" to the war to be raised during the meeting in the western city of Lviv, not far from the Polish border.

It comes after the signing of an international agreement in Istanbul on July 22 clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grain stuck at its Black Sea ports and in silos since Russia invaded the country on Feb. 14. A separate memorandum between Russia and the U.N. signed the same day was aimed at clearing roadblocks to its shipments of food and fertilizer to world markets.

Erdoğan's office confirmed that he leader will be in Lviv on Thursday to meet with Zelenskyy and Guterres to discuss the grain deal as well as ways to end the war through diplomatic means.

Guterres first proposed the grain deal to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Zelenskyy at separate meetings in Moscow and Kyiv in late April. The U.N.'s Dujarric said the...