The first shipment of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odessa on Monday morning, Turkey announced, as Kyiv said the “brutal” shelling by Moscow of the southern city Mykolaiv had killed an agriculture tycoon.
The departure of the cargo vessel loaded with corn from Odessa on Monday came despite fears the deal, inked in late July, would fall apart after a recent Russian attack on the port.
The wail of a Ukrainian tug boat’s horn marked the departure of the Razoni, a Sierra Leonian-flagged bulk carrier that began the journey at 9:30 a.m. local, departing from the port. The ship was destined for Lebanon, according to Turkey’s Defense Ministry. The ship is carrying more than 26,000 metric tonnes of corn and is expected to touch Turkish territorial waters on Tuesday.
The passage of merchant ships from Ukraine along designated maritime corridors is being supervised by a coordination centre in Istanbul, staffed by delegations from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations. Other convoys would follow respecting the maritime corridor and the agreed formalities in line with the agreement reached with Russia on July 22, Turkish officials said.
On July 22, Ukraine and Russia inked a treaty with Turkey and the United Nations aimed at easing a global food crisis caused by blocked Black Sea grain deliveries.
Turkey formally opened a special joint coordination centre in Istanbul last Wednesday to oversee the exports. Their primary assignment involves monitoring the safe passage of Ukrainian grain ships along established routes and overseeing their inspection for banned weapons on the way into and out of the Black Sea.
With two big grain nations at war, food prices had soared globally as the nations deferred their sale. According to the UN, more than 50 million people face acute hunger as a direct consequence of the war.