Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Sunday that the first ship with grain on board could leave the Black Sea ports of Ukraine on Monday.
“Negotiations are ongoing. There is a possibility that the first ship will set off tomorrow morning,” Turkish TV channel TRT Haber quotes him as saying.
In Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Black Sea ports – Chernomorsk, Odessa and Yuzhny.
The first ships with Ukrainian grain are being loaded in the ports of the Odessa region, which have been blocked in Ukrainian waters since the beginning of the war, said Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
“There are 17 ships in the ports with almost 600,000 tons of cargo. Of these, 16 ships with Ukrainian grain with a total tonnage of about 580,000 tons, which will soon leave for ports of destination,” he wrote on his Telegram channel on Friday.
Tymoshenko also stressed that as a result of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation on the territory of the Odessa region, 416 buildings and structures were destroyed or partially damaged.
As reported, on July 29, the ambassadors of the G7 countries in Ukraine arrived in Odessa to check the launch of the grain corridor.
On July 22, under the auspices of the UN, Ukraine and Turkey signed an agreement in Istanbul on the resumption of the safe export of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed with Prime Minister of the Netherlands Mark Rutte issues of defense cooperation between the two countries, the export of agricultural products through Ukrainian ports, as well as financial support for Ukraine by the European Union.
“I maintain continued contact with our partners. Discussed the course of hostilities, Ukraine- Netherlands defense cooperation and financial support from the EU with Mark Rutte. Emphasized the importance of exporting Ukrainian grain by sea ASAP,” Zelensky said on Twitter on Thursday evening.
The Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul for maritime exports of agricultural products from Ukraine continues to work intensively, as it is necessary to send the first ships with Ukrainian grain to customers as soon as possible.
This was announced by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar during a meeting with Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov, according to the website of the Turkish Ministry of Defense.
During the meeting, Akar said Turkey is fulfilling and will continue to fulfill its part of the obligations as part of the shipment of goods from the seaports of Ukraine.
According to the Turkish department, its head expressed satisfaction with the news about the possible start of grain exports from Ukraine this week.
The export of Ukrainian grain will be launched primarily from Chornomorsk commercial sea port (Odesa region).
“We believe that within the next 24 hours we will be ready to work on resuming the export of agricultural products from our ports. We are talking about the port of Chornomorsk, it will be the first. Then there will be the port of Odesa and the port of Pivdenny,” the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Ukraine Yuriy Vaskov said during a briefing in Kyiv on Monday.
According to him, within two weeks the Infrastructure Ministry will be technically ready to export from all terminals of the three seaports of the country.
The first shipment of grain, according to Vaskov, is expected this week.
Farmers of Odesa region had already harvested almost 2 million tonnes of grain, Serhiy Bratchuk, spokesman for Odesa regional military administration, said.
“We have one more front, we should not forget about it, and it is also one of the main ones – this is the agrarian front. Today, our grain growers have already harvested almost 2 million tonnes [of grain]. The northern parts of Odesa region have joined the harvest. We understand that if there is grain [and there will be!], there is flour. And Odesa region and other regions of our state, and, accordingly, entire Ukraine will have this resource,” he said at a briefing at the Ukraine Media Center on Monday.
At the same time, Bratchuk is convinced that the grain reserves in Odesa region will be sufficient for Ukraine to be able to export it to other countries.
