"I know that you intend to raise the issue of the grain deal," Putin told Erdogan at the start of their meeting. "We are open to negotiations on this question."
Erdogan said he expected the message coming out of the meeting “will constitute an important step for the world, especially for the underdeveloped African countries.”
The meeting in Sochi follows talks by the foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey last week, after which Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he had given Turkey a list of Russian demands to restart the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
Russia pulled out of the deal in July, complaining that a parallel deal promising to remove obstacles to Russian exports of food and fertilizer was not honored.
Russia’s defense ministry said Monday its forces destroyed four Ukrainian high-speed military boats in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. In a Telegram post, the Russian ministry said the boats were carrying Ukrainian troops heading for the Crimean coast.
Ukraine’s air force issued multiple warnings overnight for Russian drones heading toward parts of Ukraine, including the Izmail area along the Danube River, which has been key to grain exports during the past few months.
Oleh Kiper, governor of the Odesa region, said on Telegram that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 17 Russian drones, but that there was damage on the ground to warehouses, production buildings and agricultural machinery in Izmail. Kiper said falling debris from the drones also caused several fires.
Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Facebook that according to Ukraine’s state border guard service, Russian drones that were part of the attack on Izmail fell and detonated on the territory of neighboring Romania.
Romania’s defense ministry said it monitored the attack as it was happening, but that the “drone attacks by the Russian Federation did not post any direct military threats against our national territory or Romania’s territorial waters.”
“The Ministry of National Defense firmly condemns the attacks targeting the Ukrainian sites and civilian infrastructure elements, considering them unjustified and breaking all international humanitarian rules,” it said in a statement.
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Parliament Press Office, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shows his resignation letter addressed to the parliamentary speaker in Kyiv, Ukraine, Sept. 4, 2023.
Defense leadership
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov announced Monday he submitted a letter of resignation to the chairman of the country’s parliament, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he would replace Reznikov with Rustem Umerov.
“It was an honor to serve the Ukrainian people and work for the #UAarmy for the last 22 months, the toughest period of Ukraine’s modern history,” Reznikov said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
FILE - Then-Ukrainian lawmaker Rustem Umerov attends short-lived peace talks with Russia in Gomel, Belarus, Feb. 28, 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has named Umerov to replace Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly address Sunday that he expects parliament to give its approval to Umerov, a Crimean Tatar and a former lawmaker who is currently in charge of Ukraine’s main privatization fund.
"I've decided to replace the minister of defense of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war," Zelenskyy said. "I believe the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society as a whole," he said.
Reznikov has played a pivotal role in securing billions of dollars’ worth of Western military aid to help the war effort. However, during his appointment, the defense ministry has been tarnished by graft allegations Reznikov described as smears.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.