
The first cargo ship carrying Ukrainian grain left a Black Sea port in southern Ukraine on Monday under a deal enabling the safe passage of food-carrying vessels.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni departed the port city of Odesa on Monday carrying 26,000 metric tons of corn bound for Lebanon, according to authorities. A deal brokered by the United Nations and signed by Ukrainian and Russian officials in Turkey on July 22 is expected to release a large volume of Ukrainian agricultural products to foreign markets and ease a growing food security crisis. The Turkish Ministry of Defense said on Monday that other ships will also be dispatched from Ukrainian Black Sea ports in line with the deal.
“The first [Ukrainian] grain ship since #RussianAggression has left port,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on Twitter on Monday, thanking Turkey and the U.N. for helping implement the agreement.