The first shipment of Ukrainian grain since the Russian invasion in February left the port of Odessa on Monday morning under a landmark agreement to lift Moscow’s naval blockade of the Black Sea.
UN chief Antonio Guterres, who negotiated the plan with Turkey, welcomed the announcement, while Kyiv said it would bring “relief for the world” if Moscow kept its side of the deal. .
The five-month halt in deliveries from war-torn Ukraine, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters, has contributed to rising food prices, particularly affecting the world’s poorest nations.
Officials said the Sierra Leonean-registered cargo ship Razoni was making its way through a specially cleared corridor in the mine-infested waters of the Black Sea with 26,000 tonnes of maize on board.
“He is scheduled to be in Istanbul on August 2. He will then continue his journey after being inspected in Istanbul,” the Turkish foreign minister said in a statement.
The statement says that other convoys would follow, respecting the maritime corridor and agreed procedures.
Last month, Ukraine and Russia signed the breakthrough pact, the first significant deal involving the warring sides since the invasion, with Turkey and the United Nations to get millions of tons of trapped Ukrainian grain to the world markets
But Russian attacks on the port of Odessa the day after the deal was signed sparked outrage from Ukraine’s allies and cast doubt on the deal.
According to a UN statement, Guterres “hopes that this will be the first of many commercial vessels to move under the signed initiative and that it will bring much-needed stability and relief to global food security, especially in the most fragile humanitarian contexts”.
AFP
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