Ship carrying Ukrainian grain inspected in Istanbul

The joint coordination center, which was set up in Istanbul to oversee the grain shipments from Ukrainian ports, completed Friday its inspections, according to Türkiye's National Defense Ministry.

The Maltese-flagged ship M/V ANHTEIA set out for Afghanistan after the completion of the inspection, the ministry said in a statement.

The ship, which departed from Ukraine's Chornomorsk port on Jan. 15, 2023 with nearly 16,000 tons of wheat as part of the humanitarian aid by the World Food Program (WFP), was inspected by officials at Istanbul’s Zeytinburnu Kazlicesme Port.

This will be the fifth ship to depart for Afghanistan as part of the humanitarian aid program.

Last July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia and Ukraine signed an agreement in Istanbul to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports which were paused after the Russia-Ukraine war began in February 2022.

More than 18 million tons of grain have been carried out via the Black Sea grain corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative which Türkiye helped broker last year in a bid to avert a potential food crisis amid the Russia-Ukraine war.