First Ukraine grain ship on its way to Lebanon
The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain has set out from the port of Odesa under an internationally brokered deal to unblock the embattled country’s agricultural exports and ease the growing global food crisis.
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni sounded its horn as it departed with more than 24,000 tonnes of corn destined for Lebanon.
Russia and Ukraine signed agreements in Istanbul with Turkey and the United Nations on July 22, clearing the way for Ukraine to export 20 million tonnes of grain and other agricultural products that have been stuck in Black Sea ports because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than five months ago. The deals also allow Russia to export grain and fertiliser.
As part of the agreements, safe corridors through the mined waters outside Ukraine’s ports were established.
Ukraine and Russia are major global suppliers of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil, with the fertile Black Sea region long known as the breadbasket of Europe. The hold-up of shipments because of the war has worsened rising food prices worldwide and threatened hunger and political instability in developing nations.
President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy sounded a cautious note. Calling the shipment “the first positive signal that there is a chance to stop the spread of a food crisis in the world”, he also urged international partners to closely monitor Moscow’s compliance with the deal.
“We cannot have the illusions that Russia will simply refrain from trying to disrupt Ukrainian exports,” Zelenskyy said.
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov hailed the ship’s departure as “very positive”, saying it would help test the “efficiency of the mechanisms that were agreed to during the talks in Istanbul”.
Under the agreements, ships going in and out of Ukrainian ports will be subject to inspection to make sure that incoming vessels are not carrying weapons and that outgoing ones are bearing only grain, fertiliser or related food items, not any other commodities.
The Razoni was scheduled to dock today in Istanbul, where teams of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN officials were set to board it for inspection.
More ships are expected to leave from Ukraine’s ports through the safe corridors. At Odesa, 16 more vessels, all blocked since Russia’s invasion on February 24, were waiting their turn, with others to follow,
Ukrainian authorities said.
But some shipping companies are not yet rushing to export food across the Black Sea as they assess the danger of mines and the risk of Russian rockets hitting grain warehouses and ports.
UN Secretary-general Antonio Guterres, who proposed the grain deal in April, said the Razoni was “loaded with two commodities in short supply: corn and hope”.
“Hope for millions of people around the world who depend on the smooth running of Ukraine’s ports to feed their families,” he said.
Lebanon is in the grip of a severe financial crisis. A 2020 explosion at its main port in Beirut shattered the city and destroyed grain silos. Lebanon imports mostly wheat from Ukraine but also buys its corn for making cooking oil and animal feed.
The resumption of the grain shipments came as fighting raged elsewhere in Ukraine, with Russia pressing its offensive in the east while Ukraine tries to retake territory in the Russian-occupied south. Ukraine’s presidential office said at least three civilians were killed and 16 wounded by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region over the past 24 hours. Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko repeated a call for all residents to evacuate, emphasising the need to remove about 52,000 children still there.
Ukrainian authorities have been calling on civilians in that region, which was over-run by Russian troops early in the war, to evacuate ahead of a planned counteroffensive.
—AP