Zelensky: Export of the first shipment "is nothing" and Ukraine's economy is in a coma

Ukrainian grain ship crosses the Bosphorus strait on its way to Lebanon

The Ukrainian grain ship "Razoni" sails through the Bosphorus after completing its inspection in Istanbul.

Reuters

The inspection process of the cargo ship "Razoni", which was transporting the first exported shipment of Ukrainian grain, was completed, and while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the export of the first shipment of grain "represents nothing" and the Ukrainian economy was in a coma, Russia announced that its forces had destroyed a warehouse for weapons and ammunition in the western Lviv region. Ukraine.

In detail, yesterday, near Istanbul, Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian experts completed the inspection of the Razoni ship, which was loaded with the first shipment of Ukrainian grain since the Russian war on February 24.

The Turkish Defense Ministry told reporters yesterday that with the completion of the inspection process, which took less than an hour and a half, "the ship will be able to cross the Bosphorus Strait to head to Lebanon."

The ship was searched at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, and about 20 experts and delegates from the United Nations were transferred to the cargo ship flying the Sierra Leone flag on board two boats. The ship was searched according to the desire of Russia, which wants to ascertain the nature of the shipment.

The ship will head to the port of Tripoli, in northern Lebanon, through the Bosphorus Strait that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of ​​Marmara between the European and Asian part of Istanbul, and then from Marmara to the Mediterranean through the Dardanelles Strait.

This shipment of 26,000 tons of corn is the first to leave the Ukrainian port of Odessa, according to the agreement signed on July 22 in Istanbul between Ukraine and Russia, mediated by Turkey and under the auspices of the United Nations.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky played down the importance of the country's first export of grain since the start of the Russian war, saying the ship was carrying a very small part of the crop that Kyiv had to sell to help save its devastated economy.

Zelensky made the pessimistic comments to students in Australia online yesterday, as the inspection of the ship, which was carrying the cargo in Turkey, was completed before it left for its final destination in Lebanon.

Speaking through an interpreter, Zelensky said more time was needed to see if other shipments of grain would catch up with the first.

"It is only recently, thanks to the United Nations in conjunction with Turkey, that we have the first ship carrying grain, and if it does not represent anything, we hope that this activity will continue," he told the students.

He added that Ukraine should export at least 10 million tons of grain to help urgently reduce its budget deficit of five billion dollars a month.

"The war ... almost kills the economy," Zelensky added.

He is in a coma... Russia's closure of ports is a huge loss for the economy."

A senior Turkish official said that three ships could leave Ukrainian ports daily after the Razzoni managed to leave the port of Odessa.

On the ground, the Russian army confirmed in a statement that “high-precision missiles” had destroyed in the Lviv region a “depot of foreign arms and ammunition delivered to Kiev from Poland.”

Last June, Moscow confirmed the destruction of an arms depot handed over by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in western Ukraine, an area rarely exposed to Russian strikes.

The Ukrainian Air Force confirmed that the Russian forces launched eight cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea on Ukrainian territory, one of which "hit an air defense complex in the Lviv region."

This source confirmed that the other seven missiles were intercepted.

"There is no information on possible victims at this time," regional governor Maxim Koszytsky wrote on Twitter.

In Mykolaiv, a town near the frontline in southern Ukraine, "strong explosions" were heard yesterday, mayor Oleksandr Senkevich wrote on Telegram.

In the neighboring Kherson region, the first major city captured by the Russian army, on March 3, "the situation is still tense."

But Ukraine, which is currently leading a counterattack in the south, announced that it had captured more than 53 towns there.

On the other hand, Alexander Trofimov, representative of the Russian delegation to the NPT Review Conference, said that his country would only allow the use of nuclear weapons in response to an attack with such weapons.

Trofimov added that speculation that Russia threatens to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine is "totally unrealistic and unacceptable," noting that it does not rule out the use of these weapons by other parties, according to the Russian "RT" channel.

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