KYIV (Reuters) -Twelve vessels set off from Ukrainian ports on Monday carrying a record daily volume of agricultural products, two days after Russia suspended its role in the Black Sea grain export deal, Kyiv said.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, withdrew from the Black Sea deal for an “indefinite term” because it said it could not “guarantee the safety of civilian ships” travelling under the pact after an attack on its vessels.
But on Monday morning, a spokesperson for Odesa’s military administration said 354,500 tonnes had been shipped out of Ukrainian ports, the most moved in a single day since the grain deal was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in July.
Ukraine shipped just shy of that volume – 345,000 tonnes – on Sept. 27.
“Today 12 ships left Ukrainian ports,” Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov wrote on Twitter.
“@UN & Turkish delegations provide 10 inspection teams to inspect 40 ships aiming to fulfil the #BlackSeaGrainInitiative. This inspection plan has been accepted by the Ukrainian delegation. The Russian delegation has been informed.”
Separately, four other vessels are cleared to head to Ukrainian ports as they have already undergone an inspection by representatives of the United Nations, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia, Kubrakov said.
Among the vessels departing Ukraine on Monday was the Ikaria Angel, a vessel headed for Ethiopia with 40,000 tonnes of grain, he said.
“This is the 7th (vessel) chartered under the @UN @WFP. These foodstuffs were intended for the residents of Ethiopia, who faced the real possibility of mass starvation,” he tweeted.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk, Writing by Tom Balmforth,Editing by Timothy Heritage)
