Two more ships have passed through a “temporary” Black Sea shipping corridor established after Russia withdrew from a UN- backed grain export deal in July, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
The president did not identify the vessels involved or say when they had completed their passage but it comes after officials on Friday said two vessels had cleared the corridor – bringing the number of vessels that have used it to four.
“Two ships have successfully passed through our temporary grain corridor’,” Mr Zelenskyy posted on X, previously known as Twitter.
Mr Zelenskyy also said Ukraine was “restoring true freedom of navigation in the Black Sea”.
Russia has blockaded Ukrainian ports since it invaded its neighbour in February 2022, and threatened to treat all vessels as potential military targets after pulling out of the UN-backed deal.
In response, Ukraine announced a “humanitarian corridor” around the western Black Sea coast near Romania and Bulgaria.
The grain agreement had allowed Ukraine, a major agricultural exporter, to ship tens of millions of metric tonnes of produce to other countries during Russia’s invasion.
Tomorrow, Vladimir Putin will host Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish president, in the Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations seek to revive the grain export deal.