First grain ship since war began leaves Russia-occupied Berdyansk

“After several months of demurrage, the first commercial ship has left the Berdyansk sea trading port. 7,000 tonnes of grain left the port for friendly states,” Balitsky said.

He did not specify what those “friendly countries” are. According to Balitsky, the ship is escorted by “ships and boats of the Novorossiysk naval base of the Black Sea Fleet”. He added that the Berdyansk bay and port are completely safe.

In early May, Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure ordered to close the sea ports in Berdyansk, Mariupol, Skadovsk and Kherson.

A month later, the Russian Defence Ministry stated that the first cargo ship had left the Mariupol port. The vessel delivered about 3,000 tonnes of metal products to Russia’s Rostov-on-Don.