AFP

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet on Thursday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv, western Ukraine, nearly six months after the start of the Russian invasion, while a raid on Kharkiv on Wednesday left seven dead. UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the three leaders would discuss the latest agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain as well as "the need for a political solution to this dispute". "I have no doubts that the issue of the nuclear power plant (Zaporgia) and others will also be discussed," he added. In his regular evening statement, Zelensky said Wednesday that Guterres "has arrived in Ukraine and we will work together to achieve the necessary results for Ukraine." The Secretary-General will hold bilateral talks with Zelensky. He is then scheduled to go on Friday to Odessa, one of the three ports used under the grain export agreement, before traveling to Turkey to visit the joint coordination center responsible for overseeing the agreement. The United Nations says that between August 1 and 15, 21 grain tankers were allowed to set sail. It was loaded with 563,317 tons of agricultural raw materials, including 451,481 tons of corn. But the first humanitarian ship chartered by the United Nations, loaded with 23,000 tons of wheat, did not leave Ukraine until Tuesday, heading for Ethiopia within the framework of the agreement signed in July under the auspices of the United Nations and mediated by Turkey. - food hazard - Ukraine and Russia are among the world's largest grain exporters. Grain prices have skyrocketed since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24. The World Food Program said 345 million people in 82 countries face a severe decline in food security, while up to 50 million people in 45 countries are at risk of starvation without humanitarian assistance. The Ukrainian president continued the state of mobilization on the diplomatic front. "Diplomacy in the interest of our country has been very active in recent days," he said on Wednesday evening, referring to a ceremony that will take place on Thursday to receive the new ambassadors of Spain, Belgium, Kyrgyzstan and Romania. He said that "55 diplomatic missions have resumed their work." Zelensky is seeking financial and material aid for his country and also calls for tougher sanctions against Moscow. In the field, the battles continue and cause new civilian casualties, as happened in Kharkiv, the second city in Ukraine, where the authorities reported that a missile hit a three-storey residential building on Wednesday during Russian bombing, which led to a "large fire". "At this stage, there are seven dead and 17 wounded," said Igor Terekhov, the mayor of Kharkiv. This is a new toll after he spoke of the deaths of six dead and 16 wounded. Zelensky had previously condemned the "vile attack". New hits were recorded on Wednesday night. Terekov said that there were at least five rocket attacks as of 04:32 local time on a number of neighborhoods. He added that a "very big fire" was raging in an office building. The regional governor, Oleg Senegubov, spoke of "several fires" as a result of these strikes, which resulted in the injury of at least five people, including a child. The city of Kharkiv is located about forty kilometers from the Russian border and is constantly bombarded by the Russian army, which did not succeed in capturing it. Hundreds of civilians were killed in this area, according to the authorities. - Nuclear danger - The situation remains tense around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, occupied by the Russian army since the beginning of March and targeted by frequent bombings. Moscow and Kiev exchanged accusations of these bombing operations. The shells once landed near a radioactive storage building, and again caused the reactor to shut down spontaneously. Ukrainian Interior Minister Yenis Monastirsky warned during a visit to the city of Zaporizhia, about 50 km from the reactor, on Wednesday that Ukraine should prepare for "all possible scenarios". He accused Russia of being a "terrorist state", saying that "as long as Russia controls the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia, there are great risks." For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that an "inspection" of the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency was "urgent." Stoltenberg said at a press conference in Belgium that the occupation of the site by Russian soldiers "poses a serious threat to its security and increases the risk of a nuclear accident or accident." "It is necessary to allow an inspection process by the International Atomic Energy Agency and to reach the withdrawal of all Russian forces," he added. For its part, the Ukrainian company "Energo-Atom", which operates the site, condemned an "unprecedented" Russian cyber-attack on its site Tuesday, but made clear that its work was not affected