Baskadia

The first cargo ship using new Black Sea shipping lanes is seen leaving the southern port of Odesa on August 16, 2023. Ukraine said the first cargo ship to use the shipping lanes had exited a southern port despite threats from Russia that its navy could target vessels leaving the country. “The first vessel is moving along the temporary corridors established for civilian vessels to and from Black Sea ports,” Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a statement. (Photo by STRINGER / AFP) (Photo by STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images)

Stringer | Afp | Getty Images

Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov said a Hong Kong-flagged vessel was using a temporary corridor on the Black Sea for cargo ships that the Ukrainian navy announced last week.

The navy warned at the time that a risk from Russian mines or attacks remained. Moscow on Sunday said one of its warships had fired warning shots at a cargo vessel in the Black Sea after it failed to stop when ordered.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes on a Ukrainian Danube river port damaged warehouses and grain silos overnight Tuesday, officials reported.

Presidential aide Andriy Yermak named the port as Reni, on the border with Romania. Danube ports play a central role in exporting Ukrainian grain after Russia suspended the Black Sea Grain initiative in July.