(Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced on Saturday that two additional ships have successfully traversed through a “temporary” shipping corridor established in the Black Sea. This corridor was created after Russia withdrew from a U.N.-backed grain export agreement in July.
Zelenskiy shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, that “Two ships have successfully passed through our temporary ‘grain corridor’.”
The President did not disclose the identity of the vessels or the exact timeframe in which they completed their passage. However, officials mentioned on Friday that two ships had cleared the corridor, thus bringing the total count to four vessels utilizing it.
In an effort to “restore true freedom of navigation in the Black Sea,” Zelenskiy stated that Ukraine’s determination is essential for attaining this goal.
A Ukrainian deputy prime minister divulged on Friday that two vessels carrying pig iron and iron concentrate had traversed the corridor from the port of Pivdenny. One of the vessels was registered in Liberia, while the other was registered in the Marshall Islands.
Since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has imposed a blockade on Ukrainian ports and issued threats to view all vessels as potential military targets after withdrawing from the U.N.-backed deal.
In response, Ukraine announced a “humanitarian corridor” along the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.
The grain export agreement had permitted Ukraine, a significant agricultural exporter, to ship millions of metric tons of agricultural products to other nations amidst Russia’s invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Monday in Sochi, a Black Sea resort. The meeting aims to revive the grain export deal, with involvement from Ankara and the United Nations.
In July, Russia exited the agreement after a year, citing obstacles faced by its own food and fertiliser exports and expressing dissatisfaction with the insufficient quantity of Ukrainian grain reaching countries in need.
(Reporting by Ron Popeski; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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