Istanbul (awp/afp) – The first authorized shipment of Ukrainian grain since the start of the war on February 24 arrived off the northern coast of Istanbul on the Black Sea on Tuesday evening, an AFP team noted.
Leaving Odessa, in southern Ukraine, on Monday morning with 26,000 tonnes of corn destined for Lebanon, the Razoni, a freighter under the Sierra Leonean flag, is due to spend the night anchored off the coast of Turkey and will be inspected on Wednesday morning by an international team at the entrance to the Bosphorus, said the Turkish Defense Ministry.
This is the first export authorized under the agreement signed on July 22 in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by Turkey and under the auspices of the United Nations, to unblock Ukrainian ports and relieve agricultural markets.
According to the AFP photographer and videographer posted on the shore, the boat, 186 meters long, arrived in sight of the coast shortly before 7:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. GMT).
According to the Ministry of Defense, the boat was expected “at the entrance to the Bosphorus around 9:00 p.m.” (6:00 p.m. GMT).
The inspection, requested by Moscow, which wanted to be sure of the nature of the cargo, will be “carried out by a delegation made up of Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and UN representatives, then the Razoni will continue on its way”, specified to the Turkish Admiral Özcan Altunbulak, head of the Joint Coordination Center (CCC) which supervises the operations, press on Wednesday.
afp/rp