Commercial ships, including those that are part of the Black Sea Grain Agreement, are expected to pass the Bosphorus Strait off Istanbul, Turkey, on October 31.
Umit Bektas/Reuters
Twelve ships left Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday, despite Russia pulling out of the UN-brokered grain deal at the weekend, a Ukrainian official said.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, the country’s infrastructure minister, said the UN and Turkey would inspect the ships, a process taking place near the Turkish city of Istanbul. Moscow had been informed, he added.
“Today 12 (vessels) left (Ukrainian) ports. The UN and (Turkish) delegations are providing 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 (vessels) with the aim of complying with the #BlackSeaGrain Initiative. This plan d ‘inspection has been accepted by the (Ukrainian) delegation,’ Kubrakov tweeted.
One of the ships that set sail on Monday was loaded with 40,000 tonnes of grain, bound for Ethiopia, he added.
The minister said four ships were also en route to Ukraine after being inspected in the Bosphorus Strait on Sunday, by a team that included representatives from the UN, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia.
His update followed a UN announcement on Sunday that 12 ships would leave Ukraine through the maritime corridor on October 31.
The Kremlin announced on Saturday that it would halt its participation in the grain export deal with Kyiv after drone attacks in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
Russia’s decision to withdraw from the deal sparked concern among Western officials, after the World Food Program estimated that tens of millions of people had moved into acute starvation as a result of the war. ‘Ukraine.