The first ship carrying grain from Ukraine since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression has reached the Turkish coast. The ship had entered Turkish waters near the entrance to the Bosphorus, a team from the AFP news agency reported on Tuesday evening.
The cargo ship “Razoni” loaded with corn is to be inspected on Wednesday by representatives of the UN, Russia and Ukraine, among others, said Turkish admiral Özcan Altunbulak, head of the coordination center for grain exports from Ukraine, on Tuesday in Istanbul.
According to the information, the ship left the Ukrainian port of Odessa shortly after 8 a.m. on Monday with 26,000 tons of corn on board. The destination is the Lebanese port of Tripoli.
The “Razoni” was originally scheduled to arrive in Istanbul on Tuesday afternoon. The Turkish admiral explained the delay with the sea state. The ship is not to enter the port in Turkey, but will anchor off Istanbul, where it will then be inspected on the open sea.
The “Razoni” was off the Bulgarian coast on Tuesday morning, according to data from the “Marine Traffic” website. During the night, the ship had switched off its automatic identification system, which allows it to track its route, for more than eight hours before reconnecting to the system in the morning. The Turkish Defense Ministry gave no justification for this maneuver, which caused the ship to disappear from radar screens.
On July 22, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a grain export agreement brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. In it, Ukraine and Russia undertake to respect safe corridors for cargo ships on the Black Sea and to refrain from military activities there. A day later, however, the Russian military fired rockets at the port of Odessa.
