The bulk carrier SKY GATE with 25,000 tonnes of Ukrainian humanitarian wheat for Nigeria is moving through the Ukrainian corridor. This is the first vessel this year with humanitarian wheat chartered by the UN World Food Programme under the Grain From Ukraine programme.

“Today, the Ukrainian corridor is the main way for Ukrainian farmers to access global markets. This is important not only for Ukraine’s economic recovery, but also for maintaining global food security. Over the past six months, more than 15 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain cargo have been exported from the ports of Greater Odesa. And we are resuming the supply of humanitarian wheat under the Grain From Ukraine programme to countries on the brink of famine,” said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Deputy Prime Minister for Restoration of Ukraine and Minister for Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development.

The Grain From Ukraine programme was initiated by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy in November 2022 and is being implemented jointly with the UN World Food Programme and donor countries. Its goal is to provide access to Ukrainian food to countries suffering from hunger. In the first year, 34 countries and international organisations joined the programme. 170,000 tonnes of humanitarian wheat were shipped to Ethiopia, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya and Afghanistan.

At the second international Grain From Ukraine summit held in Kyiv on 25 November 2023, more than USD 100 million was raised to continue the humanitarian programme for the countries most affected by food shortages.