ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey’s defense ministry says the first Ukrainian grain ship traveling under a wartime deal is preparing to pass through Istanbul’s Bosporus Strait on its way to Lebanon.
The ministry said an inspection team finished its review aboard the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni on Wednesday. The team included officials from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations.
The four are parties to an agreement struck last month to create safe shipping corridors for exporting agricultural products as Russia’s war in Ukraine continues. The Razoni is carrying tons of Ukrainian corn and the inspection took place off Istanbul’s coast in the Black Sea.
Ukraine says 17 other vessels are loaded and awaiting permission to depart.
