The first Ukrainian grain ship arrives on the Turkish coast

The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to international markets has arrived on Turkish shores, implementing an agreement reached between Kyiv and Moscow last July to reduce the impact of the global food crisis. On Ukrainian soil, fighting continues, while Kyiv reports civilian casualties as a result of Russian bombing.

In detail, yesterday, February 24, the first shipment of Ukrainian grain exported after the Russian war on Ukraine arrived on the Turkish coast, where it is scheduled to be inspected this morning.

The Sierra Leonean-flagged ship Razoni left the port of Odessa, Ukraine, on Monday.

Under an agreement signed in Istanbul on July 22 between representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, the ship will be inspected by a team of the Joint Coordination Center, which oversees Ukrainian grain exports. supervision.

Under this procedure, “the ship will not enter the port of Istanbul, but will conduct inspections at sea while the ship is anchored” at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea.

Ukraine and Russia, with help from Turkey and the United Nations, agreed on July 22 with a plan to establish “safe corridors” to allow merchant ships to cross the Black Sea, with some 25 million tons of grain stockpiled in silos. .

Despite Western sanctions, Moscow signed a similar agreement guaranteeing its exports of agricultural products and fertilizers.

The two deals are expected to help alleviate a global food crisis that has contributed to high prices in some of the world’s poorest countries due to the disruption of operations at Ukrainian ports.

In Moscow, Russian military leaders pledged to ensure the safety of grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

Russian Defense Ministry representative Mikhail Mizhintsev said “Russia is taking all necessary measures to ensure the safety of civilian shipping and prevent provocations on the transit route.”

Fighting on the ground continues as Ukrainian officials report civilian casualties.

The head of the military administration in Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, announced on his Telegram account that two civilians had been killed. The two civilians tried to leave the village of Starosilia in a minibus. Five more people, including two critically injured, were rescued and taken to hospital.

On Monday night, the Ukrainian president’s office announced that the city of Mykolaiv was again under “heavy shelling”.

Mykolaiv is located near the southern Ukrainian front where Ukrainian forces are launching a counteroffensive.

In neighboring Kherson region, “the situation is still tense,” according to the Ukrainian president, but Kherson region governor Dmytro Putri told state television on Monday that “46 occupied towns have been liberated.”

Artillery plays a key role in the Ukraine conflict.

The United States, Ukraine’s main backer, announced that it would send $550 million worth of new weapons to Ukraine’s forces.

For its part, the number of people crossing the border from Ukraine has surpassed 10 million for the first time since the Russian war began, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said yesterday.

The commission’s census shows a total of 10,107,957 people have crossed the border from Ukraine since February 24.