Ukraine expects five ships to arrive at its Black Sea port of Chornomorsk on Wednesday to load more than 70,000 tonnes of agricultural produce, the largest ever convoy under a UN-Turkey-brokered grain export deal, Reuters reported.

Volodymyr Zelenskyi visited the port of ChornomorskPhoto: press service of the President of Ukraine / AP / Profimedia

The Administration of Seaports of Ukraine announced that the ships will be loaded with wheat, corn and sunflower oil.

Thanks to a framework agreement brokered by Turkey and the UN, Ukraine was able in early August to resume exports from its Black Sea ports, which were blocked for five months by the Russian invasion that began on February 24.

The seaport directorate reported that 24 ships with food left the ports of Ukraine during the 17 days of operation of the grain corridor.

“Today we expect 5 vessels to enter the port of Chornomorsk, this is the highest indicator during the grain corridor’s operation,” the Sea Ports Administration of Ukraine reported.

Ukraine was exporting 5 to 6 million tons of agricultural products per month by sea before the Russian invasion blocked Ukrainian ports.

Kyiv said that it hopes to increase the monthly volume of sea exports to 3 million tons in the near future in order to sell the 18 million tons of grain left over from last year’s harvest and start selling the new crop.

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