Black Sea port could be the first to open: first ship to leave in next few days

FRIDAY, 22 JULY 2022, 22:10 - DANA GORDIYCHUK

The Black Sea port may be the first to operate as part of the lifting of the blockade; the first ship may pass through the unblocked corridors within four days.

Yuriy Vaskov, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and member of the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations, reported this in a comment to Economic Pravda.

"Our wish is that work should start within the next 3-4 days. The Coordination Centre in Istanbul needs to be staffed for this to be possible, and we are currently discussing this issue. But representatives of all four parties must be established," Vaskov said. 

According to him, this can be done within four days, and then the resumption of shipping will begin immediately.

In response to clarification regarding the removal of mines from territorial waters, he noted that this issue is primarily a military one, but in any case it will be possible to start transporting grain from one port, then add another, after which all three will be operational.

The first such port may be the Black Sea port, then Odesa, and the last port will be Pivdennyi [South] port.

Background:

An agreement on unblocking Ukrainian ports for the export of grain has been signed in Istanbul.

The unblocking of three Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea will raise export revenues by $1 billion in a month.