After a long negotiation process, things should start soon: During his visit to the southern Ukrainian port city of Odessa, President Selenskyj declared that grain deliveries should start shortly. More than a dozen ships are currently being loaded.
During a visit to the port city of Odessa, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that grain exports by ship across the Black Sea would soon begin. “I think it starts today or tomorrow,” said the 44-year-old in a video message published on his Telegram channel.
It will be the first grain ship since Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine began in February. “The most important thing for us is that the port and the people work,” said the head of state. The video showed the ship “Polarnet” under the Turkish flag being loaded in the port of Chornomorsk near Odessa. The grain is from a Ukrainian company.
The Ministry of Infrastructure is now waiting for a signal from the United Nations and Turkey for the start. “It is important for us that Ukraine remains a guarantor of global food safety,” Zelenskyy said.
According to the deputy head of the presidential administration Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a total of 16 ships are currently being loaded with grain in the ports of Odessa. The total payload is 580,000 tons. “They will be leaving for their destinations shortly,” said Tymoshenko.
Ukraine is one of the world’s largest grain exporters. However, after the war began, Russia had blocked Ukrainian seaports. Ukraine also mined its coast to protect against Russian landings. World market prices rose due to a lack of grain deliveries; the UN increasingly fears hunger crises. According to information from Kyiv, more than 20 million tons of last year’s harvest were stuck due to the Russian sea blockade. Russia has denied responsibility for the rise in food prices, blaming the West.
With the mediation of the UN and Turkey, the two warring parties signed an agreement on the release of grain exports in Istanbul a week ago. A joint coordination center of the United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia in Istanbul is to ensure the safe handling of shipping traffic. However, Russia has made the end of its naval blockade conditional on the UN working to ease western sanctions that impede exports of Russian grain and fertilizers. Although there is no export ban for these goods, the impact of the Western sanctions has recently hampered the country’s entire foreign trade.
