The Turkish Ministry of Defense announced that the first export vessel carrying Ukrainian grain departed from the southern port of Odessa at 9:15 am on the 1st and 3:15 pm Korean time.
Prior to this, the Turkish Ministry of Defense issued a statement on the morning of the same day and said, "The Sierra Leonean cargo ship 'Lazoni' carrying corn is scheduled to depart from Odessaan for Lebanon at 8:30 am."
In a statement, the Turkish Ministry of Defense added that other convoys would follow the cargo ship while complying with procedures and sea routes under the grain transport agreement signed on the 22nd of last month.
According to local media, the first grain export convoy consists of 16 ships, which will be tracked by drones and satellites after leaving Odessa.
Built in 1996, the Lazoni is a 30,000-ton vessel with a length of 186m and a width of 25m, and is known to carry 26,000 tons of Ukrainian corn.
When the vessel arrives at the Bosphorus in western Turkiye, officials from the Joint Control Center installed in Istanbul will search the vessel to ensure safety on the route and oversee the related procedures.
Previously, Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkiye had reached a dramatic agreement on the 22nd of last month to reopen grain export routes blocked by the Black Sea blockade after the Russian invasion.
When Ukraine's export routes are reopened, it is expected that the world food shortage, which has been heightened since the Russian invasion, will improve to some extent.
As Ukraine and Russia, the world's third and fourth largest grain exporters, are at war, the Black Sea, the main export channel for Ukrainian grain, has been blocked, and the world food market has been thrown into extreme chaos.
The United Nations has warned that about 50 million people worldwide are facing severe hunger as a result of the war in Ukraine, and as grain prices soared, the food crisis in some developing countries has spread to political instability.
(Photo = AP, Yonhap News)