Lhe first shipment of Ukrainian grain left the port of Odessa on Monday 1is August, at 8:17 a.m., in accordance with the terms of the agreement with Russia signed in Istanbul, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced. “The Razoni ship left the port of Odessa bound for the port of Tripoli in Lebanon. He is expected on August 2 in Istanbul. It will continue on its way to its destination following the inspections that will be carried out in Istanbul,” the ministry said in a statement. Other convoys will follow this first departure while respecting “the (maritime) corridor and the agreed formalities”, adds the ministry.
The head of the UN, Antonio Guterres, “warmly welcomed” this departure. “The Secretary-General hopes that this will be the first of many commercial vessels, in accordance with the signed agreement, and that it will bring much-needed stability and assistance to global food security, especially in the most fragile humanitarian contexts,” the UN said in a statement. The European Union welcomed the export. “This is a very important and welcome first step, and we look forward to the implementation of the entire agreement and the resumption of Ukrainian exports to customers around the world affected by the food crisis” caused by the blockade of Ukrainian ports by Russia, said Peter Stano, spokesman for the head of European diplomacy.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy considered that the resumption of grain exports was a “relief for the world”. “It is a day of relief for the world, especially for our friends in the Middle East, Asia and Africa, as the first grain from Ukraine leaves Odessa after months of Russian blockade. Ukraine has always been a reliable partner and will remain so if Russia honors its part of the agreement,” Minister Dmytro Kouleba said on Twitter. On the Russian side, this departure was considered “very positive”. According to the Kremlin spokesman, this is an “opportunity to test the effectiveness” of the Istanbul agreement.
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Up to 30,000 tonnes of maize transported
Signed on July 22 in Istanbul, the deal, which allows Ukrainian exports to resume, aims to ease a global food crisis that has seen prices soar in some of the world’s poorest countries. According to the Marine Traffic site, which tracks boat movements, the Reasonable was still docked Monday at 5 a.m. GMT in the port of Odessa, to which he notified his departure at 6:30 a.m. French time. It should arrive at the entrance to the Bosphorus on Tuesday at midday, said Yörük Isik, a specialist in monitoring ship movements on the Bosphorus and in the region.
Built in 1996 and 186 meters long by 25 wide, the Reasonable has a hold capacity of 30,000 tonnes. The Joint Coordination Center (JCC), responsible for controlling Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea, was inaugurated in Istanbul on Wednesday in accordance with the agreement. It brings together representatives of the two belligerents, as well as Turkey and the United Nations. The CCC must register and monitor the merchant vessels that will participate in the convoys, monitor them via the Internet and by satellite, have the vessels inspected at the time of loading in Ukrainian ports and upon arrival in Turkish ports.
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Moscow wants to rebuild Mariupol before September
The first buildings under reconstruction in Mariupol, a port city in southeastern Ukraine devastated by weeks of bombardment, will be inaugurated in September, Russia, which now occupies this locality, announced on Monday. “The first buildings will be ready in September. The first hospitals will be ready,” Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khousnullin said in an interview with Russian television channel RBK TV published on Monday.
On Friday, the latter presented President Vladimir Putin with a plan to rebuild Mariupol in three years, a goal that seems ambitious given the scale of the destruction. The strategic port of Mariupol was captured in May by Russian forces after weeks of siege that devastated much of the city. Residential buildings, schools, shops, streets: nothing has been spared.
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Before the Russian military offensive, the city, built on the shores of the Sea of Azov, had more than 400,000 inhabitants. But it has largely become depopulated, with many residents fleeing the fighting. The population should rise to 350,000 inhabitants by 2025, estimated Marat Khousnulline, without specifying whether the Russian authorities planned to put in place a policy of repopulation. The Russian Deputy Prime Minister also indicated that the Russian occupying forces planned to redevelop the devastated industrial zone of the Azovstal steelworks, where the last Ukrainian defenders had taken refuge, as a “technopole”.
“We are not thinking of a restoration with old technologies. We will create jobs that will fuel the city through the economy,” the Russian official said. For the time being, the inhabitants of Mariupol continue to suffer from multiple shortages, with a very patchy restoration of water and electricity. Russian occupation forces are trying to bring some semblance of normalcy back to conquered areas in southern and eastern Ukraine. In several of them, the administrations installed by Moscow have indicated that they are preparing annexation referendums to formalize their attachment to Russia.