Ukraine announced on Saturday that for the first time since the end of the grain agreement with Russia, two cargo ships are currently sailing in the Black Sea towards Ukrainian ports.
“The first civilian ships will use the temporary corridor to return to Ukrainian ports,” Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandre Kubrakov announced via the social network Facebook.
According to the minister, the cargo ships ‘Resilient Africa’ and ‘Aroyat’ confirmed that they were sailing towards the port of Tchornomorsk to load about 20,000 tons of wheat, destined for Africa and Asia.
The two ships – crewed by citizens from Ukraine, Turkey, Egypt and Azerbaijan – are the first to sail towards the country’s southern ports since mid-July, despite Russia reiterating that it will consider the ships as enemies.
In the opposite direction, towards the Bosphorus, “five cargo ships used the temporary corridor” established by Kiev, the official said.
In mid-July, Russia terminated the grain agreement signed in the summer of 2022 with Ukraine, under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey, in order to limit, in the current context of war, the export of Ukrainian grains, which are crucial for security to make it possible. world food.
Afterwards, Moscow carried out a bombing campaign against Ukraine’s port and grain infrastructure, destroying 270,000 tons of grain in one month, according to the Ukrainian authorities’ estimate in August.
The Russian military offensive against Ukraine, launched on February 24, 2022, caused the worst refugee crisis in Europe since World War II (1939-1945). The exact number of civilian and military casualties in the war that has been going on for almost 19 months is unknown, but several sources, including the United Nations, estimate the number to be high.
At the end of September 2022, Russia announced the annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporijia, merging them with Crimea, which was annexed in 2014.
Kiev and most of the international community consider the annexations illegal and therefore do not recognize Russian sovereignty in the five territories.
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin on the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by most of the international community, which responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and impose political and economic sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine is demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from its entire territory, including Crimea, and returning to the borders of 1991, when the country gained independence from the Soviet Union.
Source: DN
