At the moment of maximum frost on the negotiations for Ukrainian wheat, perhaps a glimmer of light is opening after today's phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Turkish news agency Anadolu reported the conversation between the two heads of state, according to which Putin and Erdogan discussed the latest developments in the war between Moscow and Kiev, the agreement that unblocked grain exports from the ports of Ukraine and the situation in Syria. No mention, however, of the other phone call of the day: the one between the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and the Chinese one Xi Jinping.

We are waiting to understand if the latest exchange of views between the Russian and Turkish presidents could have some repercussions on a possible renewal of the agreement on Ukrainian wheat: just yesterday the Russian Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov expressed pessimism in this regard; however it should be remembered that Erdogan had been decisive in the role of mediator precisely on the occasion of the last renewal in mid-March.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainska Pravda newspaper reported that according to the naval forces in Kiev, Russian representatives in Istanbul blocked the departure of four ships loaded with grain from Ukrainian ports, including the Akdeniz-M, leased by the World Food Program to deliver grain to Ethiopia.