Ukraine war: Wheat export ships leave ports, Kyiv in POWs appeal, EU mulls Russia visa ban
Two more ships left Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Friday, including one laden with the first Ukrainian wheat to be exported under a UN-brokered deal, Turkey's defence ministry said.
A total 14 ships have now departed from Ukraine over the past two weeks, following the deal with Russia to allow a resumption of grain exports from Ukraine's Black Sea ports, after they were stalled for five months due to the war.
The Belize-flagged Sormovsky left Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Friday, the Turkish ministry said, carrying 3,050 tonnes of wheat to Turkey's northwestern Tekirdag province.
It was the first shipment of wheat from Ukraine, which, along with Russia, accounted for nearly a third of global wheat exports before February 24, when Moscow launched its full invasion of its neighbour.
Ukraine has some 20 million tonnes of grain left over from last year's crop, while this year's wheat harvest is also estimated at 20 million tonnes.
The Marshall Island-flagged Star Laura also departed from the port of Pivdennyi, bound for Iran with 60,000 tonnes of corn aboard, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, another ship docked in a Ukrainian Black Sea port on Friday to begin loading up with wheat for hungry people in Ethiopia, in the first food delivery to Africa under the UN-brokered plan.
So far most of the cargoes under the deal have carried grain for animal feed or for fuel, heading to Turkey or Western Europe.
The MV Brave Commander, which left Istanbul on Wednesday, arrived late on Friday in Yuzhne, east of Odesa on the Black Sea, to pick up the grain purchased by the World Food Programme (WFP).
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the ship named Brave Commander will carry its wheat to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, where it will be
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