SIX grain ships left Ukraine’s ports today, a day after Russia re-joined a deal to allow exports through the Black Sea, Turkey’s defence minister said.

“After the resumption of the grain initiative, six ships left Ukrainian ports,” Defence Minister Hulusi Akar was quoted as saying by the official Anadolu news agency.

Moscow had said on Saturday that it was temporarily pulling out of the grain deal, accusing Ukraine of using a safe shipping corridor established under the agreement to launch a drone assault on its Black Sea fleet.

Turkey and the United Nations – who brokered the July deal – engaged in intense diplomacy to save the agreement designed to ease global food crisis caused by the Russian war in Ukraine. 

Russia’s defence ministry said yesterday it had received sufficient guarantees from Kyiv that it would not use the maritime corridor to carry out attacks. – AFP, November 3, 2022.