Six Ships Leave Ukraine Under Black Sea Grain Deal - Turkish Defense Ministry

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th September, 2022) Another six ships have left Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea grain deal, the Turkish Defense Ministry said on Monday.

"As part of the grain shipment, six more ships with grain, which were scheduled to depart today, have left Ukrainian ports," the ministry said in a tweet.

On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed an UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizer exports from Black Sea ports. Three key Ukrainian ports � Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhne � were unblocked to resume exports. The Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) was set up to monitor the implementation of the initiative, including ensuring that cargo ships do not carry unauthorized goods or personnel.

The UN-brokered initiative consists of two package documents. The first one, a memorandum, stipulates the obligation of the UN to remove various restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products and fertilizers to global markets. The second defines the algorithm for the export of Ukrainian agricultural products from the Black Sea ports controlled by Ukraine. Moscow has pointed out that the first memorandum of the grain initiative is not working yet.