Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, UN to meet on safe export of Ukrainian grain on Weds: minister

ANKARA, July 12 (Xinhua) -- Military delegations of Ukraine, Russia, and Turkey, along with UN officials, will meet in Istanbul on Wednesday to discuss the safe shipment of grain waiting at Ukrainian ports, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Tuesday.

In a written statement, Akar said he had held talks with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts Sergey Shoigu and Oleksii Reznikov on the issue, as a Turkish military delegation visited Moscow earlier after a visit by a Ukrainian delegation to Ankara.

These meetings yielded positive results, he noted.

Turkey seeks to broker a grain corridor from Ukraine across the Black Sea as part of a UN-backed effort to avert a global food crisis.

Turkey controls maritime traffic to and from the Black Sea through its Bosphorus Strait.

Ankara, which has good relations with both Kiev and Moscow, has been acting as a mediator between them since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in late February.

Turkey has said it is ready to take on a role within an "observation mechanism" if a deal is reached.