Two bulk carriers made it to the Ukrainian seaport of Chornomorsk over the weekend to pick up grain, while a ship that had been stuck in Odesa since February 2022 was able to leave in signs that Russia has loosened its grip on blockading parts of the Black Sea.
Two Palau-flagged bulk carriers, Aroyat and Resilient Africa, docked Saturday at the seaport of Chornomorsk becoming the first civilian cargo ships to reach a Ukrainian Black Sea port since Russia exited a United Nations-brokered grain shipping deal in July.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in an online statement Saturday that the two ships will be delivering some 20,000 tons of wheat to countries in Africa and Asia.
Meanwhile, the Puma, a Cayman Islands-flagged bulk carrier, became the fifth stranded ship to escape Ukrainian waters over the weekend after Ukraine opened up a shipping corridor five weeks ago, the ship hugging the Romanian and Bulgarian coastline before heading to anchorage off Istanbul.