Russian bombing continues on Mykolaiv

The arrival of the first Ukrainian grain ship to the Turkish coast

The cargo ship Razzoni carrying Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul.

Reuters

The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to international markets arrived on the Turkish coast, in implementation of an agreement concluded last July between Kyiv and Moscow to ease the impact of the global food crisis.

On Ukrainian soil, fighting continues, while Kyiv has announced civilian casualties as a result of the Russian bombing.

In detail, yesterday, the first shipment of Ukrainian grain exported since the Russian war on Ukraine on February 24 arrived at the Turkish coast, where it is scheduled to be inspected this morning.

The Sierra Leone-flagged ship, the Razzoni, left the Ukrainian port of Odessa on Monday.

The ship will be inspected by a team from the Joint Coordination Center tasked with overseeing Ukrainian grain exports, under the agreement signed in Istanbul on July 22 between representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations to allow the export of Ukrainian grain under international supervision.

Under this procedure, "the ship will not enter the port of Istanbul, but will conduct inspections at sea while the ship is anchored" at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait in the Black Sea.

Ukraine and Russia agreed on July 22, with help from Turkey and the United Nations, to a plan with a provision to establish “safe corridors” that would allow merchant ships to cross the Black Sea to remove about 25 million tons of grain piled in silos.

It signed a similar agreement guaranteeing Moscow the export of its agricultural products and fertilizers, despite Western sanctions.

It is expected that these two agreements will help alleviate the global food crisis, which was contributed by high prices in some of the poorest countries in the world due to the disruption of the activities of Ukrainian ports.

In Moscow, Russian military leaders pledged to ensure the safety of grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

A representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Mikhail Mizintsev, said Russia is taking all "necessary measures to ensure the safety of civilian shipping and prevent provocations along the transit route."

On the ground, fighting continues as the Ukrainian authorities report civilian casualties.

The head of the military administration in Kryvyi Rih, Oleksandr Vilkul, announced the killing of two civilians on his Telegram account.

The two civilians were on a minibus trying to leave the village of Starosilia.

Five other people, including two seriously injured, were evacuated and taken to hospital.

On Monday night, the Ukrainian presidency reported that the city of Mykolaiv was subjected to "heavy bombardment" again.

Mykolaiv is located close to the southern Ukrainian front, where Ukrainian forces are launching a counterattack.

In the neighboring Kherson region, "the situation is still tense," according to the Ukrainian presidency, but the governor of the Kherson region, Dmytro Putri, told state television on Monday that "46 occupied towns have been liberated" in the region.

Artillery plays a central role in the conflict in Ukraine.

The United States, the main supporter of Ukraine, announced that it would send new weapons worth $550 million to Ukrainian forces.

For its part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said yesterday that the number of people who crossed the border from Ukraine exceeded 10 million for the first time since the start of the Russian war.

A census of the Commission showed that a total of 10,107,957 people have crossed the border from Ukraine since February 24. 

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