Some twenty experts in Turkey have reviewed the holds of the ‘Razoni’, which is already sailing to Lebanon, to prevent possible arms trafficking
The ‘Razoni’, the first ship loaded with grain that departs from a Ukrainian port since the beginning of the war, has passed the inspection of international experts on Wednesday in Istanbul. A condition contemplated in the agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine with Turkey and the United Nations to unblock exports. The ship thus continues its voyage through the Bosphorus Strait and will arrive at the Lebanese port of Tripoli in the coming days. The success of this first shipment gives some hope of overcoming one of the most serious consequences of the war: the global food crisis.
The ship, with the flag of Sierra Leone, left this past Monday from the port of Odessa loaded with 26,000 tons of corn. After two days of sailing, she arrived on the Turkish coast this Wednesday, where she underwent an hour and a half inspection by the Joint Coordination Center (CCC), the Istanbul-based body in charge of supervising exports. A score of specialists have arrived at the ‘Razoni’ aboard two boats. The team is led by Turkish Admiral Özcan Altunbulak, head of the CCC, and retired US Admiral Fred Kenney. Russian and Ukrainian experts also supervised the inspection, which is one of Russia’s demands to lift the ban on grain exports.
The good news, however, has been met with skepticism by kyiv. The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, has celebrated the first shipment of grain “thanks to the United Nations in collaboration with Turkey” but has indicated that “it is nothing yet”. “The war is killing our economy. He is in a coma,” the Ukrainian leader lamented in a videoconference with Australian students. According to Zelenski, his country must export at least 10 million tons of grain to help rebalance its trade balance, which has a deficit of 5,000 million monthly since the beginning of the invasion. The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, has, on the other hand, shown his satisfaction with this “first step” on the road to unblocking the food crisis.
Fighting at Kherson
Russia and Ukraine reached an agreement on July 22, sponsored by Turkey and the UN, to allow the export of grain through the Black Sea, blocked by Moscow since the beginning of the war. Before the invasion, Ukraine was the world’s fifth largest producer of grain. It generates 42% of sunflower oil globally, as well as 16% of corn and 9% of wheat. kyiv says there are another 16 grain ships waiting to depart from Odessa, Chermomorsk and Pivdenni. Up to 25,000 tons of grain accumulate in Ukrainian ports.
The Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres, has shown hope for the first shipment through the naval corridor and hoped that the progress of the war will not block exports again. Meanwhile, on the ground, kyiv continues with the evacuation of the 200,000 civilians residing in the Donetsk region, in Donbas, the epicenter of the fighting since the first stages of the war.
In the south of the country, the head of the Ukrainian military administration of Kryviy Rig has claimed that a Russian shelling killed two civilians in a minibus trying to leave the Moscow-controlled Kherson region, where Ukrainian forces have waged a fierce counteroffensive. Dmytro Butriy, head of the Ukrainian authority in the area, assured on Tuesday that they have regained control of 53 settlements in Kherson. The Ukrainian position has been strengthened by the arrival of more Western weapons, especially long-range artillery.
Spain ignores kyiv and avoids committing a new arms shipment
Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain, Serhii Pohoreltsev, on Wednesday urged the government to make more arms shipments to continue fighting Russia’s attack on his country. “The situation continues to be very complicated, the enemy continues to attack us and that is why we need more weapons to be able to resist,” Pohoreltsev acknowledged after holding a meeting with Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who avoided making any commitments in this regard and limited himself to to maintain that “Spain will continue to support with humanitarian aid and shipment of war material within our possibilities”. Robles and the Ukrainian ambassador have met just one day after the Minister of Defense announced the cancellation of the shipment of the Leopard battle tanks after verifying the “regrettable” state in which they are found. “We continue to need more and more things,” Pohoreltsev pointed out after assuring, referring to Spain, that “if you want to help, you always look for and find a way to do it.”
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