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First cargo ship to challenge Russian blockade reaches Turkey from Ukraine

August 17, 2023
ANKARA — The first cargo ship to leave a Ukrainian port under Russian threat reached Turkish waters safely on Thursday.
According to the Vessel Finder website, which tracks marine traffic, Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte reached Turkish waters safely Thursday evening local time. It departed from Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odessa, where Russian attacks have increased since Moscow refused to extend the Black Sea grain deal that had guaranteed safe travel for civilian vessels to and from Ukrainian ports.
Kyiv announced the ship’s departure from the port on Wednesday. Ukraine’s Development and Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel had been trapped in Odessa for over a year and that it was carrying more than 30,000 tons of cargo.
The vessel “is proceeding through [a] corridor established for civilian vessels to/from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.
“The first civilian vessel has passed through Ukraine’s new humanitarian corridor, departing from the port of Odessa,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted on Wednesday, describing the ship’s departure as “an important step toward restoring the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.”
After Moscow’s refusal to extend the vital Black Sea grain deal, which expired on July 17, Ukraine announced its intention to set up an alternative corridor for the safe passage of civilian vessels. Following the announcement, Russia ramped up attacks on Ukrainian grain storage facilities and ports, imposing a de-facto blockade on ships traveling to and from the Ukrainian Black Sea coast.
In a tweet after the ship’s departure from Odessa, US State Department Spokesman Vedant Patel lashed out at the Russian attacks as intentional. “Russia continues to intentionally target food silos in Ukraine — literally destroying food as well as the means to produce it. [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s actions confirm what we’ve been saying: Putin simply does not care about global food security,” Patel tweeted on Thursday.
According to data on Vessel Finder, the ship sailed through Romanian and Bulgarian waters to reach its destination, Turkey’s northwestern port of Ambarli.
Kubrakov said Thursday that the route the Joseph Schulte followed “would be primarily used to evacuate ships that were in ports at the time of the full-scale invasion of Russia.”
Earlier Thursday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said that the ship could cross the Turkish straits without facing any problem.
“Other countries are working on alternative routes. We are also following these developments closely,” a high-level Turkish Defense Ministry official told Turkish media.
The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week that Washington was in talks with Kyiv and Ankara in a bid to discuss alternative routes for grain and other foodstuff shipments.
However, the Turkish Defense Ministry official said Thursday that Ankara was still focusing its efforts on the revival of the original deal.
Amid escalating tensions in the region, Russian armed forces raided a cargo carrier owned by a Turkish citizen off Turkey’s northwest coast in international waters on Sunday in a move Moscow described as an “inspection.” Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry released footage from the raid.
The Turkish presidency’s press office said Thursday Ankara after the incident had warned Moscow against actions that would further escalate the situation in Black Sea. The incident came as Turkey is trying to convince Russia to return to the deal.
The Black Sea grain deal was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine blocked Ukrainian foodstuff exports, particularly its grain, from reaching world markets. Some 40 countries rely on grain exports from Ukraine, which is known as the world’s bread basket. Global grain prices have spiked since last month, when Russia refused to extend the deal.
This story has been updated since first publication.

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