Espreso heads Zelensky's interview 'hunger in the world'; Ukrainska Pravda heads it 'Ukrainians won't go without food'

One interview, four headlines. Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Fareed Zakaria at the Yalta European Strategy meeting on 11 September. Four Ukrainian reports carry it. Each headline leads on a different line.

What Zelensky says. Zelensky tells Espreso TV a blockade would make exports costly and logistics "terrible", and Ukrainian grain would fall in price. He says other countries "simply will have no food", even with money. He says he raised it with Egypt, India, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The offer under the threat. Espreso's second report quotes him proposing to unblock the Black Sea and an energy truce protecting both countries' grids. The same report says Vladimir Putin said on 1 September that he had ordered massive strikes on Ukraine's energy sites.

One analyst. Serhiy Vovk of the Centre for Transport Strategies tells Espreso TV the 2027 sowing could be at risk without new export routes by November or December.

What is not settled - Which countries would go short, and by how much. No report names or counts them. - Who is attacking merchant ships. Espreso TV names no attacker. - Any Russian reply to the interview. We hold none. - For Ukrainska Pravda and Obozrevatel, we hold only their opening lines.

What this is about. Whether Ukraine can keep shipping its grain across the Black Sea while at war with Russia, and who goes short if it cannot.

How it got here. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014. On 24 February 2022 it launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine is one of the world's largest exporters of wheat, maize and sunflower oil, and most of it has long left by sea from the ports around Odesa. In the first months of the invasion those ports were shut. In July 2022 the UN and Turkey brokered the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which let inspected ships sail. Russia left the deal in July 2023, saying its own terms had not been met. Ukraine then sent ships along its own coast under its own protection. Both sides also strike each other's energy. Russia has hit Ukraine's power grid every winter since 2022. Ukraine has hit Russian refineries and fuel depots.

The actors. - Ukraine needs grain sales to earn foreign currency. Its farmers need them to pay for the next sowing. - Russia is the other party to the war and a large grain exporter itself. - Turkey controls the Bosphorus, the Black Sea's only way out to the Mediterranean, and brokered the 2022 deal. Espreso TV reports that Turkey is now talking to both countries about a new security arrangement for shipping. - Egypt and other import-dependent states in the Middle East, Africa and Asia buy Black Sea grain. - The United States sent envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Moscow and Kyiv, Obozrevatel reports. It says they brought ideas on energy, grain, oil and gas.

What is at stake. If ships cannot move, grain prices on Ukrainian farms fall. An analyst tells Espreso TV the 2027 sowing could be at risk. Countries that import grain would pay more or get less. Zelensky compared it to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow Gulf passage that carries much of the world's oil trade.

Where it stands. Espreso TV reports that attacks on merchant ships have left grain sitting in storage. It does not say who is attacking them. Espreso also reports that Putin said on 1 September he had ordered massive strikes on Ukraine's energy sites. There is no grain deal and no energy truce. Zelensky is proposing both.