Coordination center for Ukraine grain shipments opens

ISTANBUL－Turkiye on Wednesday opened the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul that will monitor grain shipments from Ukraine, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.

Twenty representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations, in equal share, are carrying out their work at the center, Akar said. It has been set up within the compound of a military university in the district of Besiktas, on the European side of Turkiye's biggest city.

The center will guarantee the safe passage of vessels from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea and the Bosporus Strait in Istanbul to global markets, Akar said.

At the command center, the representatives were seated around a large square table. A map on a big screen was showing the details of the Black Sea and the locations of several vessels.

"This center will register and follow the commercial ships that will be included in the initiative. It will technically track the journey of the ships through satellite, internet, and other means of communication," Akar said.

An agreement for the Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed in Istanbul on Friday.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Wednesday welcomed the inauguration of the center as "a platform to help operationalize the Black Sea Grain Initiative".

Guterres underscored the importance of the parties working in partnership to implement the initiative as a means of reducing global food insecurity.

Akar said ships will be inspected by joint inspection teams at locations deemed appropriate upon loading at Ukrainian ports and arrival at ports in Turkiye.

"If there is a need for demining, plans agreed by all parties would be made. However, there is no need at this stage," he added.

Operations resume

The Ukrainian Naval Forces' media office said in a statement on Wednesday that operations have resumed in the Black Sea ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Pivdenny in line with the shipments deal signed last week.

Also on Wednesday, Russian space officials informed US counterparts that Moscow would like to keep flying its cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station until their own orbital outpost is built and operational, a senior NASA official told Reuters.

Taken together with remarks from a senior Russian space official published on Wednesday, the latest indications are that Russia is still at least six years away from ending an orbital collaboration with the United States that dates back more than two decades.

Xinhua - Agencies