The Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) authorized five outbound vessels loaded with food on Thursday within the framework of the Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN has reported.
“JCC authorized the movement of five ships carrying a total of 83,241 tonnes of grain and other foodstuffs as part of the Black Sea Grain Initiative,” the UN said.
The UN reported that vessels Jasmin Queen (9,531 tonnes of corn), Captain Adam 1 (9,300 tonnes of wheat) and Filyoz (4,410 tonnes of sunflower oil) will go to Turkey. The Kiran America ship will head to China with 50,000 tonnes of barley and corn, while the Santana ship will deliver 10,000 tonnes of wheat to Italy.
In addition, vessel Dignity (8,200 tonnes of sunflower seeds) previously postponed the departure from the port of Chornomorsk to Thursday, September 8. It is planned that it will go to Turkey.
“As of September 7, the total tonnage of grain and foodstuffs exported from the three Ukrainian ports is 2.335 million tonnes. In total, the movement of 211 ships has been authorized at the moment – 111 inbound and 100 outbound,” the UN said.
In Istanbul on July 22, with the participation of the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia, two documents were signed on the creation of a corridor for the export of grain from three Ukrainian ports – Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny.
Black Sea Grain Initiative, CHINA, ITALY, SHIPS, TURKEY, Ukrainian food
Italy will continue to raise funds to restore the city of Bucha in Kyiv region, which suffered from Russian occupiers, Mayor of Bergamo (Italy) Giorgio Gori said during a meeting with Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhiy Marchenko and Managing Director of the Rothschild international banking group for the CIS region Giovanni Salvetti.
As the Ministry of Finance pointed out in a press release on the website on Wednesday following the meeting, in April 2022, the Italian humanitarian organization Cesvi, headquartered in Bergamo, allocated the first EUR 500 million for the restoration of Bucha, and Gori confirmed its readiness to raise funds in the future.
The mayor of the Italian city noted that the amount of financial support for the restoration of the communal infrastructure and social facilities of Bucha will be increased through charitable contributions from private and public donors, in particular from the municipality of the city of Bergamo.
“Today, the amount of infrastructure damage reaches $104 billion, but the war is not over yet. Now, even after the victory, a difficult path for the restoration of Ukraine awaits us,” the Minister of Finance of Ukraine said in turn, quoted by the ministry’s press service.
Priority areas for the recovery of Bucha are the restoration of destroyed infrastructure, housing, refurbishment of fleets of special equipment, including ambulances, fire engines and public transport, the ministry added.
The National Bank of Italy and the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) have launched a program for exchanging hryvnia for euros for Ukrainian refugees since June 21, the NBU press service reported on Friday.
According to the report, Ukrainians who have been granted a temporary residence permit in Italy or international protection will be able to exchange hryvnias in the amount of up to UAH 10,000 per person.
The exchange will be available at branches of the Italian Central Bank and branches of commercial partner banks (more than 400 branches throughout the country).
As reported, the hryvnia cash exchange program has already been launched in Poland, Germany, Belgium, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Whole Europe must unite its efforts and act boldly in order to solve the problem of safe transportation and shipment or Ukrainian grain, Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi has said.
“We must do everything possible to not let the situation become dramatic… To avoid… a serious crisis, we must ensure safe transportation of grain. This must not cause a global disaster. For this we must focus on how to organize grain transportation through the Black Sea. Russia, unfortunately, does not make advances. We must fight against this problem bravely and boldly, just like President Zelensky. And we, the Europeans, must act together,” Draghi said during a press conference following a meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, France, Germany, Italy, and Romania in Kyiv on Thursday.
He added that there is some time to solve this problem as “the harvest will be ready mainly in September.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi have arrived in Ukraine.
A photo of the leaders of France, Germany and Italy on the train was posted on the Telegram channel of Ukrazilaznytsia on Thursday morning.
Italy, if necessary, is ready to take part in mine clearance operations at Ukrainian ports in order to ensure the exit of ships with grain from them, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said on Wednesday.
“We are putting pressure on the creation of sea corridors for the transportation of agricultural products from Ukrainian ports, especially grain. To do this, it is necessary to clear the sea areas near the ports, especially near Odessa,” Sole 24 Ore quoted him as saying.
“Italy has expressed its willingness to participate in demining operations. We want the UN to play a central role in conducting and coordinating operations, along with other partners such as Turkey,” Di Maio added.
He noted that the export of grain would be possible “with Russian guarantees for the safety of ships and their cargo.”
