Turkey: Three more grain ships will leave Ukraine

The three ships will leave Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea.

“is scheduled to leave Ukraine tomorrow”, said Defence Minister Hulus Akar, state news agency Anadolu reported.

He said even a cargo-free ship is expected to leave for Ukraine, as it is currently being inspected in Istanbul.

Akar has held talks with Ukraine's defence and infrastructure ministers over the situation about grain shipments, the report said.

This announcement comes a day after the first ship passed Istanbul since the grain export agreement was reached. The ship left the Ukrainian port of Odessa on August 1st and is destined for the Lebanese port of Tripoli.

Moscow and Kiev reached agreement last month on the return of exports. The deal was reached under the mediation of Turkey and the UN and aims to unblock three Ukrainian ports, which have been blocked since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.

The agreement requires that an international team, comprised of officials from Turkey, the UN, Russia and Ukraine, oversee inspections and passing ships through the Bosphorus.

This team said through a statement that the first ship successfully sailed and that the deal is still being respected.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has discussed over the phone with UN chief Antonio Guterres on implementing the agreement, Ankara announced. But details of this conversation have not yet been published. /rel