A team of inspectors in Turkey on Friday began checking an empty cargo ship before it heads off to collect grain from the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk under a deal to restart Ukrainian grain exports, the Turkish Defence Ministry said.
The ministry published photos on Twitter showing the inspection team boarding a boat to head out to the Barbados-flagged general cargo ship Fulmar S, which was at anchor in the Black Sea just to the north of Istanbul's Bosphorus Strait.
Vessels to load Ukrainian grain are being inspected by Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and U.N. personnel who are working at a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul.
Three ships carrying a total of 58,041 tonnes of corn have been authorised to leave Ukrainian ports on Friday, as a Russian offensive forced Ukraine to cede territory in the east.
The first vessel carrying Ukrainian grain allowed to leave port since the start of the war left Odesa on Monday bound for Lebanon, under a safe passage deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations.
(Reporting by Daren Butler; Editing by Bradley Perrett)
