Grain cargo ship “Aroyat” leaves blocked Ukrainian port Representatives of Karabakh arrived in Azerbaijan for negotiations

The grain cargo ship “Aroyat” left the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk despite the Russian naval blockade. The ship is on its way to Egypt with 17,600 tons of grain, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Olexander Kubrakow said on Facebook on Friday. The Palau-flagged “Aroyat” was the second cargo ship to enter and exit Ukraine’s temporary maritime corridor, he pointed out. Moscow withdrew from the grain deal in July and threatened to consider all ships sailing to Ukrainian ports as potentially carrying military supplies.

According to the ship information service MarineTraffic, the ‘Aroyat’ is now in the open sea on the Black Sea. Her crew consists of Egyptians, Albanians, Azerbaijanis, Belgians and Turks. The ship is expected in Alexandria on Wednesday. The “Aroyat” arrived in Chornomorsk a week ago together with the “Resilient Africa”. ‘Resilient Africa’ has already successfully completed the Black Sea crossing and is now off the coast of Istanbul.

Before the Russian war of aggression, Ukraine was one of the largest grain exporters in the world. The naval blockade that Moscow had pursued since the start of the war led to global concerns about a crisis in food markets and especially in the supply of poor countries in Africa and Asia.

Russia therefore agreed to a limited release of shipments of Ukrainian grain in the so-called grain agreement. It then let the deal expire because Moscow felt Western sanctions were preventing it from exporting its own food and fertilizer. Only when these restrictions are lifted will Moscow be willing to restore the agreement, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin said. However, there are no sanctions against Russian grain. The problems lie more with the financing and insurance of exports.

(yam/sda/dpa)