First U.N. grain ship ready to leave Ukraine for Ethiopia

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The first ship of the United Nations World Food Program will leave the port of Odessa in Ukraine in the next few hours, bound for Ethiopia, as part of the agreement signed between Russia and Ukraine for the continuation of Ukrainian grain exports since the beginning of the war.

This was announced by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in a message on social networks in which he assured that the UN merchant ship “will soon load and depart from Odessa to Ethiopia.”

“The cooperation of all the actors involved is key for the UN plan to work to help avoid food shortages and hunger,” said the former Belgian prime minister, who has supported from the outset the mediation efforts of UN Secretary General António Guterres to achieve a pact to allow Ukrainian grain exports, blocked by the Russian army in the context of the war in Ukraine.

According to the United Nations, the agreement mediated by Turkey, which will play the role of coordinator to allow the exit of grain from the Black Sea, is key to “reduce food insecurity at the global level.”