The UK has no plans to send British warships to help get food exports such as grain out of the blockaded Ukrainian port of Odesa, news agency Reuters reports a government spokesperson as saying.
The idea of a “protective corridor” from Odesa was raised by Lithuania’s foreign minister and UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, according to the Times, with the potential for a “coalition of the willing” to provide ships.
The spokesperson said the UK would continue working “intensively” with international partners to resume the export of grain amid Putin’s “despicable” blockade. But they said the UK is not deploying warships to the Black Sea.
Earlier, UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps warned food shortages could cause more deaths than the war.