Kyiv, Europe Brief News- The first ship carrying humanitarian food aid to Africa from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion began in February has sailed.
The United Nations-chartered Brave Commander, which is loaded with 23,000 tonnes of wheat, departed for Djibouti on Tuesday with supplies destined for consumers in Ethiopia, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said in a statement.
The ministry said it was working with the UN on increasing “food supplies for the socially vulnerable sections of the African population” as concerns mount over a global food crisis caused by Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said the Brave Commander was expected to arrive in the Horn of Africa in two weeks.
Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped due to Russia’s blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and sparking fears of shortages in Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Ukraine’s ports were reopened last month following a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the UN and Turkey, which has made it possible for Ukraine to export hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain, other food supplies and fertilisers to global buyers.
