The commercial port of Odessa and two others nearby, on the Black Sea, resumed their activity yesterday to begin exporting Ukrainian cereals, as established in the agreement signed last week between Ukraine and Russia and alleviate the world food crisis. These are the ports of Pivdeni and Chornomorsk, in addition to Odessa, sources from the Ukrainian navy reported by the Ukrinform portal.
Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar yesterday inaugurated the center in Istanbul that will oversee the export of Ukrainian grain. The first shipment is expected to leave Black Sea ports in a few days. "The departure and arrival of the ships from the ports will be carried out in a caravan that will accompany the lead ship," sources from the Ukrainian Navy said through their Facebook account. The control and supervision of these tasks falls to Turkey, as the guardian of an agreement – together with the UN – that Russia and Ukraine signed separately.
The announcement of this agreement was followed on Saturday by several attacks on the commercial port of Odessa, denounced by Kyiv and the international community as attempts by Russia to undermine the commitment. In the following days there were new attacks against infrastructure in the Odessa region, although Ukraine maintained the plan to unblock these shipments. The goal is to transport to international markets some 22 tons of wheat, corn and other cereals stored in the silos of the three ports mentioned.
