The Palau-flagged bulk carrier Aroyat arrives at the Chornomorsk seaport to load with grain, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, near Odessa, Ukraine, September 16, 2023. Portal/Stringer LICENSE
KYIV, Sept 16 (Portal) – Two cargo ships headed to Ukrainian ports on Saturday, becoming the first vessels to use a temporary corridor to call at Black Sea ports and load grain for African and Asian markets, it said Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakow.
Last month, Ukraine announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to free ships stuck in its ports since the war began in February 2022 and to bypass a virtual blockade after Russia abandoned an agreement on Kiev’s grain exports .
So far five ships have left the port of Odessa, using the corridor that encircles the western Black Sea coast 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 are on their way through the Black Sea to Ukrainian ports to load almost 20,000 tons of wheat for Africa and Asia, Kubrakow said.
Data from ship tracking company MarineTraffic showed that the Aroyat was already in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, while the other ship was in the Black Sea.
The Ukrainian Ministry of Agriculture said on the messaging app Telegram that the wheat would be shipped to Egypt and Israel.
“Although the United Nations is not involved in the movement of these ships, we welcome all efforts to resume normal trade, particularly in essential food products that help supply and stabilize global food markets,” a U.N. official said on condition of anonymity . said Portal.
“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 as Russia seeks to re-impose its de facto blockade after abandoning the grain deal in July. Moscow has frequently launched drone and missile attacks on Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure.
The Black Sea Grain Agreement was negotiated by the United Nations 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 with naval drones and missiles in recent days on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in and around the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Olena Harmash and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Ros Russell
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