Under an agreement by the two warring sides, the first freighter loaded with grain to help feed humans has departed the Ukrainian port city of Yuzhne, east of Odesa and now in Russian hands, and it will head to Africa to help abate the risk of famine, Politico reports.
Carrying 23,000 metric tons of wheat grain, The Brave Commander Sunday afternoon local time. The ship will unload its cargo in Djibouti where it will travel on to Ethiopia. The shipment will be one of many to nations in Africa, which were dependent on Ukrainian grain to feed their populations.
In an agreement reached last month thanks to negotiations led by the United Nations and Turkey, Russia and Ukraine agreed to let Ukrainian grain be shipped to needy countries in Africa to lessen a famine that has already struck most of the western region.
Several shipments of grain have departed Russian-held Ukrainian ports under the agreement, but they were animal feed grains, not human-grade food.