The first ship carrying 7,000 tons of grain, guarded by the Russian Navy, has left the Russian-occupied Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, according to new authorities appointed by Moscow.
“After a break of several months, the first merchant ship left the Berdyansk commercial port, delivering seven thousand tons of grain to friendly countries,” Yevgeny Palitsky, head of the pro-Russian administration of the region, said on Telegram. “The safety of the cargo ship is provided by the ships and boats of the naval base of the Black Sea Fleet in Novorossiysk,” he added.
For weeks, Ukraine has accused Russia of stealing wheat crops from areas occupied by the Russian army in the south of the country for illegal sale abroad. Moscow denies stealing Ukrainian grain.
Since the beginning of the invasion, the Russian army has captured the port of Berdyansk, located on the Sea of Azov, without causing any damage to it. The port is located in the Zaporozhye region, most of which is occupied by Moscow, as well as the neighboring Kherson region.
Russia’s attack on Ukraine, which began on February 24, could lead to a global food crisis, as Ukraine is a major grain exporter and is currently unable to export its products from the ports it still controls.
Russia, for its part, claims that it will allow the exit of Ukrainian ships with food if the Ukrainian army removes mines from sea lanes. But Kyiv refuses to do so, fearing that Russia will launch an offensive on the Ukrainian coast of the Black Sea, while it has so far lost the entire Azov basin.
Negotiations under the auspices of Turkey and the UN have not yet yielded results. Russia is also unable to export its agricultural products due to sanctions imposed on it by Western countries in connection with its invasion of Ukraine. Moscow has created authorities in the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions, called the “military-civilian administration”, which are engaged in the Russification of these regions. It is alleged that it is preparing to annex these territories to Russia, as happened in 2014 with the Ukrainian Crimea.
