The first humanitarian ship chartered by the United Nations to transport grain from Ukraine was loaded with 23,000 tons of wheat on Sunday and is ready to go to sea, the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine said, according to AFP and News.ro.
Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov, who was present at the port of Yuzhny during the loading of the MV Brave Commander, noted that “the ship will go to Africa, Ethiopia is the last country where 23 thousand tons of wheat will be delivered. “.
“I hope that more vessels chartered for the World Food Program (WFP) will call at our ports. I hope there will be two or three more ships soon,” he continued.
A Ukrainian official later wrote on Twitter that the cargo was ready and the ship was ready for departure, without giving an exact date.
The ship Brave Commander docked on Friday in the port of Pivdenny near Odesa. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, he will go to Djibouti, from where the grain will be transported to Ethiopia.
This is the first batch of food aid to leave Ukraine after the signing of agreements in July between Kiev and Moscow, brokered by Turkey and under the auspices of the UN, on the export of Ukrainian grain, blocked by the war between the two countries.
“Obviously, we expect more ships to leave Ukrainian ports to help people around the world. This is just the first of many humanitarian ships that will leave the ports,” Marianne Ward, Deputy Director of Operations of the World Food Program (WFP) in Ukraine, told reporters.
The first commercial vessel left on August 1, and a total of 16 boats have left Ukraine since the agreement took effect, according to Ukrainian authorities, but no UN aid ships have yet put to sea.
Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s largest exporters of grain, the prices of which have risen since the beginning of the war.
According to the World Food Programme, a record 345 million people in 82 countries are now facing acute food insecurity, and up to 50 million people in 45 countries are at risk of starvation without humanitarian assistance.
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Source: Hot News RU
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