ALBAWABA – Two cargo ships have arrived in Ukraine on Saturday through the new Black Sea route established by the Ukrainian military in the last few weeks, the BBC reported.
Ukrainian port authorities confirmed the arrival of the two cargo ships at the Chornomorsk port to load 20,000 tonnes of wheat.
Officials said it was the first time civilian ships had reached a Ukrainian port since the collapse of the UK-Turkey-brokered deal with Russia, the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Previously the corridor had only been used by ships departing from Ukraine.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the ships – Resilient Africa and Aroyat – sailed flying the flag of the Oceanic island nation of Palau. Their crews consisted of people from Ukraine, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Egypt, as reported by the BBC.
The wheat will be delivered to Egypt and Israel, according to Ukraine's agricultural ministry.
Ukraine is one of the top wheat exporters worldwide - AFP
Kyiv unilaterally declared the maritime corridor, along the western coast of the Black Sea, after Russia abandoned the deal.
Moscow said parts of the deal allowing the export of its food and fertilisers had not been honoured and complained that Western sanctions were restricting its own agricultural exports.
Notably, Ukraine is one of the world's biggest suppliers of crops such as sunflower oil, barley, maize and wheat, and when Russia invaded in February 2022, its navy blockaded the country's Black Sea ports. The Russian blockade trapped 20 million tonnes of grain meant for export.
This caused world food prices to soar and threatened to create shortages in the Middle East and Africa. Many countries in both regions import significant amounts of food from Ukraine. Some of these countries, including Afghanistan, Yemen, Sudan and Ethiopia, remain in desperate need of humanitarian aid today.
