01.11.2022 8:36
Split
ISTANBUL (Portal) Three departing ships left Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea Grain Export Agreement on Tuesday midday, the United Nationsled coordination center said on the second day of the crossing, after Russia suspended its participation in the initiative.
The statement said the movement of the ships had been agreed by the Ukrainian, Turkish and UN delegations at the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) in Istanbul and the Russian delegation had been informed.
Amir Abdulla, UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grains Initiative, “continues discussions with the three member states to resume full participation in the JCC,” the statement said.
The export deal was brokered by Russia and Ukraine and brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July to ease a global hunger crisis caused in part by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and earlier blockading of its ports.
Twelve ships left Ukrainian ports on Monday, the biggest export day since the program began, while two arrived.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the program was in response to a drone strike on Moscow’s Crimean fleet on Saturday, which he blamed on Ukraine. Moscow said on Monday it was “unacceptable” for the transport to go through the corridor.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denies using the grain program’s security corridor for military purposes. The UN said no grain vessels used the Black Sea route on Saturday.
Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told Ukraine’s defense and infrastructure ministers that it was important to keep the initiative alive and that, as a humanitarian initiative, it must be kept separate from the conflict in Ukraine, Akar’s ministry said on Tuesday.
UN and Turkish teams continued inspections of ships anchored in Istanbul on Tuesday, the JCC statement said, after clearing 46 ships on Monday.
(By Daren Butler and Yesim Dikmen)
