Ukraine. Two more ships transport grain to South Korea and Turkey

Two ships carrying more than 70,000 tons of grain departed this Tuesday from the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, as part of the agreement between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

With these two departures, the number of ships that have left Ukraine with grain since the agreement was signed on July 22 in Istanbul, rises to 12.

In total, more than 375,000 tons of grain have already left Ukraine, according to the Turkish news agency Anadolu.

One of the ships departing today, the “Ocean Lion”, flying the Liberian flag, is carrying “64,720 tons of maize to South Korea,” the Turkish ministry announced on social network Twitter, quoted by the Spanish agency EFE.

The Turkish-flagged “Rahmi Yagci” transports a cargo of 5,300 tons of sunflower seed meal to Istanbul.

At the time the information was released, the Turkish Defense Ministry said the two ships were about 10 kilometers southeast of Odessa, the starting point for sailing along the maritime corridor envisaged by the agreement.

The port of Chornomorsk on the Black Sea is located in the Odessa region.

The two ships will arrive in the Bosphorus on Wednesday afternoon to be inspected by a team made up of representatives from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations.

Under the agreement, ships leaving Ukraine will be checked to verify that they are only carrying grain, fertilizer or food and no other goods.

Ships bound for Ukraine are being checked to make sure they have no weapons on board.

The joint coordination team in Istanbul will today inspect three ships that arrived from Ukraine on Monday, the UN said in a statement quoted by EFE.

The deal was reached in light of the threat of a global food crisis posed by the blockade of Ukrainian grains in ports controlled by Russian troops, following the war in Ukraine, which began on February 24 by Russia.

The war also affected the global supply of agricultural fertilizers, of which Russia is a major producer.

According to the British magazine The Economist, Ukraine and Russia together supply 28% of the world’s wheat, 29% of barley, 15% of maize and 75% of sunflower oil.