Second-grain shipment docks at Ukrainian port for loading

Amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the second commercial ship is set to load grain and has been docked at Chornomorsk port in Ukraine, said Ukraine's Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov in a statement today.

"OSPREY S is ready to export 30,000 tons of corn. Let's keep working!," the Infrastructure Minister wrote on Twitter, Al Jazeera reported.

Since the start of Russia's invasion, OSPREY S is the second bulk carrier that has arrived at the port of Chornomorsk to export 30,000 thousand tons of corn, Ukraine's infrastructure minister has said.

The first shipment of grain left the Ukrainian port of Odessa on August 1.

Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements in Istanbul in July with Turkey and the United Nations to resume grain shipments to international markets via the Black Sea.

The agreement has ended a wartime standoff that had threatened food security in several countries and cleared the way for exporting tons of Ukrainian grains.

The deal will enable Ukraine to export 22 million tons of grain and other agricultural products that have been stuck in Black Sea ports due to the war.

Notably, the deal will create provisions for the safe passage of ships. Moreover, a control centre will be established in Istanbul, staffed by UN, Turkish, Russian and Ukrainian officials, to run and coordinate the process and the ships would undergo inspections to ensure they are not carrying weapons.

Ukraine is regarded as the "breadbasket of Europe" supplying 10 per cent of the world's wheat, 12-17 per cent of the world's maize and half of the world's sunflower oil. Twenty-five million tonnes of corn and wheat - the entire annual consumption of all the least developed countries.

The West accused that Russia's actions have driven up prices in countries like the UK and the ongoing blockade has placed 47 million people around the world on the brink of humanitarian disaster.

Since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war, security experts say one of Moscow's earliest strategic aims quickly became apparent as its armoured columns advanced along the coast in an effort to seize Ukraine's coastline.