4 Aug 2022 22:05

Three grain-laden ships to depart Ukrainian ports Aug 5 - Turkish defense minister

ISTANBUL. Aug 4 (Interfax) - Three more bulk carriers with grain are expected to leave Ukrainian ports on Friday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Thursday.

"Three vessels with grain will leave Ukrainian ports on Friday as part of the crucial deal brokered by Ankara," Akar was quoted by the TRT World television channel as saying.

Also on Thursday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke by telephone with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to discuss the recent steps to enable the Ukrainian grain exports, the channel said.

Participants in the quadripartite negotiations - the United Nations, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine - signed two documents in Istanbul on July 22 regulating the functioning of a sea corridor to export grain from the Ukrainian seaports of Odesa, Chornomorsk (Illichivsk), and Pivdenny (Yuzhny).

The Sierra Leone-flagged vessel Razoni left the Odesa port on August 1. It is carrying some 27,000 tonnes of corn to Lebanon.