Ukraine announces reopening of “grain corridor”

The UN confirmed to Ukraine that the so-called vessel traffic along the “grain corridor” would resume on Thursday, Oleksandr Kubrakov, minister of infrastructure of Ukraine has tweeted. 

He said that eight ships would pass through the corridor, and on Wednesday, the ships would be inspected in the Bosphorus Strait.

On July 22, Ukraine and Russia, through the mediation of Turkey and the United Nations, reached an agreement in Istanbul to resume the export of wheat and other agricultural products from Ukraine to the world through the Black Sea. A special coordination center staffed by representatives of Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations was opened in Istanbul for ship control and safe navigation.

On October 29, Russia announced that Ukraine had carried out a “terrorist attack” using drones on Russian military and civilian ships in Sevastopol, suspending the implementation of the agreement. Prior to that, Russia repeatedly threatened to restrict grain exports from Ukraine under various pretexts.

On October 30, the UN, Turkey and Ukraine agreed on a plan to move 16 ships through the humanitarian corridor without Russia. On October 31 and November 1, some of the ships were able to leave Ukrainian ports. On the evening of November 1, the UN, Turkey and Ukraine announced that the corridor would not operate on November 2.