The first humanitarian ship chartered by the United Nations to transport Ukrainian cereals was loaded on Sunday August 14 with 23,000 tonnes of wheat and is ready to go to sea, announced the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure. Present at the port of Pivdenny, in the city of Youjné, to assist in the loading of the MV Brave CommanderMinister Oleksandr Kubrakov indicated that “the ship will head for Africa, with Ethiopia being the last country where the cargo of 23,000 tonnes of wheat will be delivered”.
“I hope that more ships chartered for the World Food Program (WFP) will come to our ports. I hope there will be 2-3 more ships soon”, he continued. On Twitter, he later added that the load was complete and the boat was ready to go, without giving a date.
“It’s only the first”
This is the first shipment of food aid to leave Ukraine since agreements were signed in July by kyiv and Moscow, via Turkish mediation and under the aegis of the UN, on the export of Ukrainian cereals, blocked because of the war between the two countries. “We obviously 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 ports.”Marianne Ward, deputy director of operations for the World Food Program (WFP) in Ukraine, told reporters.
The first commercial ship left on August 1, and a total of 16 boats have left Ukraine since the agreement came into force, according to the Ukrainian authorities’ tally, but no UN humanitarian cargo has yet taken to sea. Ukraine and Russia are among the world’s largest exporters of cereals, which have experienced a surge in prices since the beginning of the war.
