The first grain ship to leave the Ukrainian port of Odesa under a UN-brokered deal to ensure safe passage through the Black Sea departed on Monday morning, according to Ukrainian and Turkish officials.
“The first [Ukrainian] grain ship since #RussianAggression has left port,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted, thanking Turkey and the UN for helping implement the deal.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, carrying more than 26,000 metric tons of corn, is also shown to be moving on satellite vessel tracker MarineTraffic.
The ministry said other ships will also be dispatched in line with the deal signed in Istanbul on July 22, but did not provide further details.
Grain deal: A total of 5 million metric tons of grain is expected to leave Ukraine each month under the agreement, helping to ease the global food crisis sparked by Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports.
The ships will navigate through a safe corridor in the Black Sea and pass through the Bosporus Strait to reach global markets.
