Five more ships loaded with desperately needed food supplies left Ukrainian ports on Tuesday under a United Nations and Türkiye-brokered grain export deal, a statement said, including a vessel carrying the first cargo of humanitarian food aid bound for Africa since Russia’s invasion.
Carrying corn and wheat, three vessels departed from the port of Chernomorsk and two from Pivdennyi port, Türkiye’s Defense Ministry said. That lifts the total number of ships to leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports under the U.N.-led plan to unblock grain trapped by Russia’s war on its neighbor and ease the global food crisis to 21.
The ministry added that four more ships bound for Ukraine were to be inspected on Tuesday by the joint coordination center, set up by Russia, Türkiye, Ukraine and the United Nations in Istanbul.
Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since the start of the war because of the closure of its Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and sparking fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.
Three Black Sea ports were unblocked last month under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Türkiye, making it possible to send hundreds of thousands of tons of Ukrainian grain to buyers and bringing relief to some of the millions worldwide who are on the brink of starvation.
The U.N.-chartered ship named MV Brave Commander, loaded with 23,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat, left for Djibouti on Tuesday with supplies destined for consumers in Ethiopia, the first shipment of its kind in a program to assist countries facing famine.
It is the first ship chartered by the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) to leave Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began on Feb 24. Ethiopia is one of five countries that the U.N. considers at risk of starvation.
WFP Executive Director David Beasley said the most important step in combating hunger globally is the opening of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.
“It will take more than grain ships out of Ukraine to stop world hunger, but with Ukrainian grain back on global markets we have a chance to stop this global food crisis from spiraling even further,” he said in a statement.
“The capacity is there. The grain is there. The demand is there across the world and in particular, these countries,” Denise Brown, the U.N. resident coordinator in Ukraine, told The Associated Press (AP) on Monday.
“So if the stars are aligned, we are very, very hopeful that all the actors around this agreement will come together on what is really an issue for humanity.”
Works are underway with the U.N. on ways “to increase food supplies for the socially vulnerable sections of the African population,” Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said in a statement.
Despite the developments, the world still faces an unprecedented food crisis, the WFP said, adding that up to 50 million people in 45 countries are on the edge of famine.
Ukraine can export 3 million tons of grain from its ports in September and may in the future be able to export 4 million tons monthly, said Deputy Infrastructure Minister Yuriy Vaskov.
He said Ukraine had received applications for 30 ships to come to Ukraine in the next two weeks to export grain, while the total export volume so far was about 600,000 tons.
Despite unblocked ports, Ukraine’s grain exports are down 46% year-over-year at 2.65 million tons so far in the 2022/23 season, the Agriculture Ministry said this week.
Ukraine exported 948,000 tons of grain in the first half of August, down from 1.88 million tons in the same period a year earlier.