European Union leaders are set to discuss the war in Ukraine with U.N. chief Antonio Guterres on Thursday, including food security and sanctions.
Diplomats and officials said the meeting will also endorse a plan to ramp up the supply of artillery shells to Kyiv.
Guterres will be a guest at an EU summit in Brussels, days after the renewal of a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey on the safe export of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea.
Officials, however, said that the discussion will be held over lunch with Guterres before the U.N. Secretary-General takes his leave.
It added that the EU leaders will get an update on the war from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy via video link.
“We will, as always, reaffirm our unwavering commitment to assist Ukraine,” declared Charles Michel, president of the European Council of EU leaders.
The leaders will give their blessing to a plan agreed by foreign ministers on Monday to send one million artillery shells to Ukraine over the next year by digging into stocks and making a landmark move into joint procurement.
Washington pushed back on Russian demands that Western sanctions be eased before it allows Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports beyond mid-May, saying there were no restrictions on Russian agricultural products or fertilizer.
Inside the EU, the issue of fertilizer exports was also blocking more sanctions against Kremlin ally Belarus.
The bloc said new sanctions are needed to stop Belarus from serving as a circumvention route for existing Russia trade restrictions.
However, Lithuania was against what it dubbed “fertiliser oligarchs” exemptions proposed to ensure fertilisers from Belarus continue flowing to third countries, saying that would weaken the sanctions regime overall, diplomats said.
Proponents said such carve-outs, similar to those the EU has in place under its sanctions against Russia, were necessary to ensure food security and refute accusations from Moscow that EU measures were driving a global food crisis.
Diplomats involved in preparing the summit of the 27 national EU leaders were sceptical of an imminent breakthrough.
One senior EU diplomat said “nobody wants abuse and no one wants the pockets of oligarchs to be filled with money, but sometimes there are justified requests from third countries.’’
The diplomat explained that the exemption would cover some potassium exports “but so far there is no sign of movement”
However, beyond food security and sanctions, the leaders will also discuss bringing those responsible for the 13-month war to justice, as well as providing more military aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy’s government has told its Western allies that it urgently needs large amounts of 155mm shells as it fights a fierce war of attrition with invading Russian forces.
Officials have warned that Ukraine is burning through shells at a faster rate than its allies can produce them, prompting a renewed search for ammunition and ways to boost production.
The EU devised a scheme earmarking one billion euros ($1.1 billion) for the swift supply of shells and possibly missiles from existing stocks and another one billion euros for joint orders by EU countries for more rounds.
The diplomats said the money would come from the European Peace Facility, an EU-run fund that has already provided billions of euros for military aid to Ukraine, adding that leaders at the summit may begin a discussion on a further top-up to the fund.
“We will need to take measures to boost the manufacturing capacity of the European defence industry,” Michel said in his letter inviting fellow EU leaders to the summit.
