Two more ships loaded with grain depart Ukraine

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Two more vessels carrying a combined 70,200 metric tons of foodstuffs departed Ukraine on Tuesday, Turkey's Ministry of Defense said.

The ministry confirmed the departures of Ocean Lion and Rahmi Yagci from Ukraine's southwestern port of Chornomorsk via Twitter.

The departures had been authorized a day earlier by Istanbul's Joint Coordination Center, which was created July 22 in an agreement between the warring nations brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to create safe passage for ships through the Black Sea.

The center said Ocean Lion was ferrying 64,720 metric tons of corn to South Korea and Rahmi Yagci was transporting 5,300 metric tons of sunflower meal to Turkey's capital of Istanbul.

The ships left Ukraine after a caravan of four vessels loaded with a combined 170,000 tons of foodstuffs departed the war-torn country on Sunday.

Turkey's Ministry of Defense said those ships were now anchored off Istanbul's coast and would undergo inspections shortly, after which they will carrying on to their final destinations.

Foodstuffs grown and harvested in Ukraine had been sitting in storage since Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24, deepening a worldwide food insecurity crisis.

Passage through the Russian blockade of the Black Sea resumed Aug. 1 when the first ship since the war began departed Ukraine.

Officials have said some 20 millions tons of grain are waiting to be exported from the country.