Admin I Friday, August 18, 2023
ISTANBUL – The first ship to use a temporary corridor to and from Ukraine’s seaports entered Turkey’s Bosporus Strait early Friday, state news agency Anadolu has reported.
The Hong Kong-flagged container ship operated by a German firm entered the Bosporus at 6:10 am (0310 GMT), it said.
The Joseph Schulte will anchor at the Ambarlı port south of Istanbul, Anadolu added.
The vessel left the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea on Wednesday evening, several hours after leaving the southern port of Odessa.
The ship had been stuck there for over one and a half years, throughout the entire course of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine said merchant ships can use the corridor at their own risk.
Kiev set up the corridor after Russia last month terminated a UN-brokered deal to move vital grain exports out of blockaded Ukrainian ports.
