The three Ukrainian ports (Odessa, Pivdennyi (Yuzhnyi) and Chornomorsk) designated for grain exports, resumed operations on Wednesday 27 July.
The Ukrainian government expects the first shipments to be able to leave the Black Sea ports where they have been blocked since the Russian invasion began on 24 February “as early as this week” (see EUROPE 12999/2).
In application of the agreements signed for four months on 22 July in Istanbul, the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) responsible for controlling the transport of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea was officially inaugurated on the same day in the Turkish metropolis.
Kyiv and Moscow agreed in Istanbul, through Turkish mediation and under the aegis of the UN, to allow the delivery abroad of some 25 million tonnes of grain stuck in Ukrainian ports (see EUROPE 12998/2). The Russians and Ukrainians commit to a safe shipping corridor across the Black Sea, free of military activity. (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)