Two more ships left Ukrainian Black Sea ports, one loaded for the first time with Ukrainian wheat to be exported thanks to a UN-brokered deal, Turkey's Defense Ministry said, quoted by Reuters.

In the past two weeks, a total of 14 ships left Ukraine following a deal with Russia to resume grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which were halted because of the war in Ukraine.

The deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, was reached last month amid fears that a lack of Ukrainian grain supplies would lead to significant food shortages and, in some parts of the world, famine.

Two more grain ships sailed from ports in Ukraine

The ship Sormovsky, sailing under the flag of Belize, left the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk today, the Turkish Ministry of Defense announced.

The vessel was transporting 3,050 tons of wheat to Turkey's northwestern Tekirdag district.

It is the first shipment of wheat from Ukraine, which, along with Russia, accounted for almost a third of global wheat exports before February 24, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

Kyiv has about 20 million tons of grain left over from last year's harvest, and this year's harvest is expected to be around 20 million tons.

The Marshall Islands-flagged ship Star Laura also set sail today for Iran with 60,000 tons of corn on board.

As part of the agreement reached under the auspices of the United Nations, all ships are inspected in Istanbul by the Joint Coordination Center, where officials from Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations work.

The first of three grain ships that left Ukraine on Friday arrived in Istanbul

The Razoni, the first ship to leave Ukraine under the agreement, docked in Turkey yesterday and headed for Egypt today, according to ship tracking system Refinitiv.

The original buyer of the grain in Lebanon refused delivery due to a five-month delay.

Shipping agent Toros, which handled Razoni's offloading in Turkey, said yesterday that the ship would unload 1,500 tonnes of its total cargo of 26,527 tonnes of maize at Mersin in southern Turkey, with the rest heading to Egypt.

Rahmi Yagci, who left Ukraine on Tuesday for Istanbul, dropped anchor at the northern end of the Bosphorus in Istanbul today, and Mustafa Necati, who sailed for Italy on Sunday, dropped anchor at the southern end.

Four other ships were cleared to sail to Ukraine after being inspected by a team from the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul.

Turkey's Ministry of Defense announced yesterday that the ships that have arrived in Ukraine are being loaded.

export of grain