Nine more grain ships leave Ukraine under İstanbul deal

Nine more ships have left Ukrainian ports under the İstanbul grain export deal, Türkiye's ministry of National Defense said on yesterday (September 25).

The ministry statement did not disclose the ships' points of departure or destinations.

This July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports after they were paused when the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.

Since the first vessel sailed under the deal on August 1, more than 200 ships have carried over 4 million tons of agricultural products through the grain corridor.

How the Ukraine grain deal works

Russia's invasion of Ukraine led to a grain export crisis from Ukraine, one of the largest grain exporting countries in the world. Ukraine accused Russia of stealing the grain in the places it occupied in Ukraine. Turkey is among the places where the stolen grain is sold, according to officials from Ukraine.

Russia denied stealing Ukraine's grain and says the disruption in the grain shipment is caused by the naval mines laid by Ukraine off the Black Sea coasts.

After diplomatic consultations, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal on July 22 to reopen three ports — Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny — for grain that has been stuck for months because of the invasion.

On July 27, a coordination center to implment the deal opened in İstanbul.

The duty of the center is to provide safe sea transportation of grain and similar food products to be exported from Ukraine.

It consists of five representatives – both military and civilian – each from Türkiye, Russia, Ukraine and the UN.

The center will register and monitor the departure of commercial ships via satellite, internet, and other communication means, and will carry out all its activities in coordination with the parties and the UN.

The ships will be inspected by joint inspection teams at locations deemed suitable for loading at Ukrainian ports and upon arrival at ports in Türkiye.

Nearly 4,900 civilians have been killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the war on February 24, according to UN figures. Over 15 million people have been forced to flee their homes, including more than 8.4 million that have fled to other countries.

(VK)