Ukraine and Turkey will work to revive a Black Sea grain corridor, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on October 31.

"The president and I have agreed to work on the Black Sea grain corridor so that the corridor exists and is effective," Zelenskiy told a joint press conference, European Pravda reported. He said the two leaders had discussed "some ideas and proposals that can help" and accused Russia of degrading security in the Black Sea since 2014, but gave no details of what a revived corridor would look like.

The sea has become the most economically destructive front of the war this year, as Russian and Ukrainian drones have turned on each other's ports and the ships that use them, pushing up world grain prices in a food price shock. No container ship has called at the Greater Odesa ports since August, and Ukraine's reported port throughput fell to 1.67mn tonnes in August, about 80% below April, as cargo moved to the Danube. On the Russian side, cargo handling at some Azov and Black Sea terminals fell by 95%-100% in September.

Erdogan used the press conference to criticise both sides. "We cannot accept these attacks under any circumstances, regardless of who carries them out or what justification is offered. We call on all parties to act responsibly on this matter," he said, according to the Kyiv Independent. He said Ankara was continuing talks with both parties on restoring maritime security, that an agreement could help advance a lasting peace, and that Turkey would also take the issue up with Russia.

Ankara has been trying to broker a deal at sea since the summer. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan put proposals for a moratorium on military operations in the Black Sea to Moscow and Kyiv in August, after several incidents involving Turkish-flagged ships. Russia rejected the plan on August 14, when foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also ruled out any return to the 2022-23 Black Sea Grain Initiative brokered by Turkey and the UN. Kyiv has said it is ready to accept a moratorium. Egypt, India and Turkey took up a Ukrainian proposal for a reciprocal maritime ceasefire in September, without result.

Turkey has its own reasons to want the shooting stopped. The disruption to Black Sea trade could cost the Turkish economy $20bn, the country's shipping board warned in August. Erdogan discussed Black Sea security with Russian President Vladimir Putin by phone in early October, after Russian drones sank a merchant vessel in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone.

The attacks continued while the leaders met. Russia's defence ministry said on October 31 that its drones had struck a dry-cargo ship 18 km south of Odesa that it said was carrying cargo for Ukraine's armed forces, Kommersant reported, two days after it reported hitting another cargo ship heading for Odesa.

Zelenskiy said the talks also covered a Turkish role in ending the war. "We are now preparing for a trilateral format - Ukraine, the United States, and Russia - in the first half of November," he said on X, adding that he and Erdogan had discussed "ways to involve Turkiye and all of Europe, as well as the possibility of holding meetings here in Turkiye". The Kremlin has said the next round of Russia-Ukraine-US talks is planned for November in the United Arab Emirates, AFP reported.

Turkey hosted three rounds of direct Russia-Ukraine talks in Istanbul in 2025. "At this point, we maintain that there are no losers in a just peace," Erdogan said. In Atlanta, where G20 foreign ministers were meeting the same day, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was less hopeful. "I don't know if negotiated peace is achievable in Ukraine, that's what we're trying to find out," he told reporters.