ATLANTA — Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski on Friday, October 30, called for a rapid ceasefire in the Black Sea that would allow safe passage for grain shipments from both Ukraine and Russia, Reuters reported. Sikorski made the call to reporters during a two-day meeting of foreign ministers from the Group of 20 major economies in Atlanta.
Source: Reuters
"I spoke in favor of doing something quickly because the people of the Global South need this grain," Sikorski told reporters. Sikorski, who was invited to attend the meeting by the US host nation, said Ukraine must be included in any effort to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine, now in its fifth year. Europe also had "cards" in the issue and should be involved, he said.
No Russian energy sales to Europe before a fair end to the war
Sikorski also said Moscow must end its war against Ukraine before being allowed to resume energy sales to Europe, and called for a "fair end" to the war before Russia could sell its energy products once again to Europe, formerly its most lucrative market. His Black Sea proposal separates one narrow, practical file — food shipments — from the wider war: a limited ceasefire at sea so that grain from both belligerents can reach buyers, above all in the Global South, whose food costs rise whenever Black Sea shipping is blocked or attacked.
The call landed in a meeting Reuters reported was already split by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, with deep rifts likely to derail unified G20 actions or statements. The United States, which holds the rotating G20 presidency this year, did not invite South Africa to the ministerial, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended — and Lavrov separately said on Friday that Russia's position on Ukraine was unchanged and that Zelenskiy's comments on maintaining strikes on Russian targets were unhelpful in preparing for new talks. Russia, Ukraine and the US are expected to hold technical-level trilateral talks in Abu Dhabi next month.
A second fight at the same table: Poland's G20 seat
The United States has proposed that Poland become a full G20 member, much like Germany or France, which are also represented through the European Union. Sikorski said he welcomed the push and had discussed it with a number of G20 member countries in bilateral meetings in Atlanta. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking at a reception for the ministers at Atlanta's Georgia Aquarium, said Poland deserved to be made a full member: "President (Donald) Trump believes their economic success and growing global influence is exactly what the G20 needs to tackle the major economic challenges we all face," Rubio said.
Lavrov objected. The Russian foreign minister told reporters that inviting Poland to attend G20 meetings was counterproductive and broke with diplomatic practice of seeking consensus at such gatherings, according to Russian news agencies. "Of course, this violates the principles of diplomacy, and especially multilateral diplomacy, when members of associations such as the G20 work on the basis of consensus," Lavrov was quoted as saying. Western officials say it could take years for Poland to be accepted as a full member given Russia's opposition and the G20's requirement for consensual decisions. Sikorski told reporters that Britain, which will head the G20 next year, had already invited Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk to attend the 2027 leaders' summit in Manchester, England.
No government has yet publicly answered Sikorski's Black Sea ceasefire call itself — neither Kyiv nor Moscow has said whether a grain-only truce at sea is acceptable, and no shipping timetable was proposed in Atlanta. What happens next turns on the November diplomatic sequence already taking shape, including the hoped-for Abu Dhabi trilateral, and on whether a food-shipment ceasefire can be detached from the full end-of-war terms on which, as Lavrov restated the same day, Moscow says its position has not moved.
Sources: Reuters, October 30, 2026 (Andrea Shalal, Atlanta) — Sikorski's remarks and the G20 membership dispute; Reuters, October 30, 2026 — rifts over the Ukraine and Middle East wars at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta.