The Minister for Infrastructure UkraineOleksandr Kubrakov, announced this Monday that his Government foresees that the exports of cereal by sea, blocked due to the war, are resumed this week.
The departure of ships from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea will take place within the framework of the agreement signed on July 22 in Istanbul, the minister said in an appearance in kyiv, quoted by the Interfax agency.
According to his estimates, the reopening of the ports will allow monthly exports of about three million tons, which will bring Ukraine additional revenue of $1 billion.
Kubrakov indicated that the coordination center that will be created in Istanbul to supervise the operation of the humanitarian corridor for the exit of grain will start operating on Wednesday, July 27.
However, his functions will not extend to Ukrainian territorial waters, in which, he said, “only the Ukrainian authorities will have the competence to manage and guarantee all processes.”
The demining work will be carried out exclusively in the corridors created to allow the departure of grain shipments and all vessels will be accompanied by ships from the Ministry of Infrastructure, he added.
For his part, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Yuri Vaskov, pointed out that, if everything goes according to plan, the first shipment of cereal It will leave this week from the port of Chornomorsk, in the Odessa region.
“The port of Odessa and the port of Pivdenny will follow,” he affirmed, assuring that within two weeks the Ministry will be technically ready to export from all the terminals of the three ports in question.
The agreement signed last week under the auspices of the United Nations and Turkey provides for the creation of a maritime corridor to alleviate the food crisis caused by the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea.
However, after the attacks launched on Saturday against the commercial port of Odessa, Ukraine he accused Russia of “spitting in the face” of the UN and Turkey and stated that Russia should bear “full responsibility” if the agreement is broken.
