A second cargo ship carrying Ukrainian wheat arrived in Istanbul today via the Black Sea, shipping monitoring websites said, despite Moscow’s threats to attack ships entering and leaving Ukraine.

The Aroyat, a Palau-flagged cargo ship, departed Friday from the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk, near Odessa. It is the second ship to follow a sea lane created by Kiev along the western shores of the Black Sea to bypass the Russian blockade.

According to the Marine Traffic and Vessel Finder websites, the cargo ship Aroyat carrying 17,600 tons of Ukrainian wheat bound for Egypt was today at 06:00 Greek time at the southern exit of the Bosphorus, in the Sea of ​​Marmara.

This is expected to head towards the Dardanelles Straits to reach the Mediterranean.

Moscow withdrew in July from an international agreement signed in July 2022 ensuring the export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the Black Sea.

This agreement allowed the export of nearly 33 million tons of grain in one year.

A first ship loaded with 3,000 tonnes of wheat and also under the flag of Palau had departed without encountering obstacles on Tuesday also from the port of Chornomorsk and arrived in Istanbul on Thursday.

Kiev is seeking to create supply routes to Africa to counter the influence of Russia, which promised some African states over the summer to deliver wheat for free.

Russia and Ukraine are two major agricultural powers whose production is vital to global food security. Russia’s invasion of its neighbor and international sanctions imposed on Moscow have destabilized global supplies and markets.

Ukrainian armed forces have also been trying for weeks to counter Russia’s military control of the Black Sea.

Kiev said on Saturday that it had killed or wounded several “high-ranking commanders” of the Russian navy in a missile attack it launched on Friday against the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol, on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.