ISTANBUL, Aug  10, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - The first shipments of wheat should

start flowing from Ukrainian ports next week under a landmarked deal agreed
with Russia and Turkey, a top UN official said on Wednesday.

The first 12 shipments that have left the three Black Sea ports designated
by the deal were carrying corn or other foodstuffs, Frederick Kenney, interim
UN coordinator at the joint centre in Istanbul overseeing the deal, told
reporters.

He said Ukraine's silos were full of corn when Russia invaded its neighbour
in February.

"We are dealing with three ports that were essentially frozen in time,"
Kenney said.

"The silos were full of corn and the ships that were there have been loaded
with corn," he said. "It's imperative to get those ships out to get new ships
in .... that can deal with the food crisis."

The agreement, signed by the warring parties and UN and Turkish officials
last month in Istanbul, was hailed as a major opportunity to tackle the global
food crisis caused by the war.

Kenney said the 12 ships that have sailed out of Ukraine in the first week
carried 370,000 tonnes of maize and foodstuffs.

He said this had allowed Ukrainian port authorities to deal with the
backlog and clear out space for new ships that can come up in to pick up wheat
from this year's harvest.

"We're actually transitioning to wheat," he said.

"We have cleared the first ship inbound" to Ukraine through the Bosphorus
Strait, he said. "That should occur some time next week."

The deal was dealt an early setback when the first ship to leave Ukraine,
the Sierra Leone-flagged vessel Razoni, failed to reach its destination in
Lebanon because of a contractual dispute.

Ukrainian officials said the Razoni's owners were now looking for a new
client to take the ship's 26,000 tonnes of maize.

The vessel has been anchored off Turkey's Mediterranean Sea port of Mersin
since the start of the week.

Kenney stressed that his Istanbul centre did not get involved in
contractual disputes, focusing on its mission of safely navigating ships
through a designated corridor cutting through mine-strewn Black Sea waters.
The ships are inspected coming into and out of the Bosphorus.

"We're seeing steady progress in the number of ships coming in an out," he
said. "We're off to a good start."