Kiev:
Two cargo ships headed to Ukrainian ports on Saturday, becoming the first ships to use a temporary corridor to enter Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
Ukraine last month announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to free ships stuck in its ports since the war began in February 2022 and bypass a de facto blockade after Russia abandoned an agreement to supply Kiev with grain have it exported.
So far, five ships have left the port of Odessa, via the corridor that runs along the western coast of the Black Sea, near Romania and Bulgaria.
Ukraine, a leading global food producer and exporter, also wants to use the corridor for its food exports.
The bulk carriers “Resilient Africa” and “Aroyat” were heading through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports to load almost 20,000 tons of wheat for Africa and Asia, Kubrakov said.
Data from ship tracking company MarineTraffic showed that the “Aroyat” was already in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, while the other ship was en route in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry said via messaging app Telegram that the wheat would be shipped to Egypt and Israel.
“While the UN is not involved in the movement of these ships, we welcome all efforts to resume normal trade, especially of essential food products that help supply and stabilize global food markets,” said a UN official, speaking on condition of anonymity speaks. told Reuters.
“We continue our efforts to facilitate the export of agricultural products from both Ukraine and the Russian Federation.”
The shipments are a test of Ukraine’s ability to reopen shipping lanes at a time when Russia is trying to reimpose its de facto blockade after abandoning the grain deal in July. Moscow has regularly launched drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure.
The Black Sea Grains Agreement was brokered by the UN and Turkey in July 2022 to combat a global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia are among the largest grain exporters in the world.
Ukraine has carried out several attacks in recent days with naval drones and missiles on the Russian naval fleet in the Black Sea in and around the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
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