The first shipment of Ukrainian grain since Russia's invasion will no longer arrive in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli on Sunday as planned, Ukraine's embassy in Beirut has said.
"Tomorrow's arrival of (the) Razoni ship is postponed," the embassy told AFP in a message today.
Updates regarding an arrival ceremony "will be sent later when we get information about (the) exact day and time of the arrival of the ship", it added.
Asked why the arrival was postponed, an embassy spokesperson said: "I don't have any other information at the moment."
An official following the shipment said the vessel might not even dock in Lebanon if the cargo's owner manages to sell it elsewhere.
"The ship will only go to Lebanon... if a trader buys the cargo," the official told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from the Ukrainian port of Odessa last Monday carrying 26,000 tonnes of corn, and stopped in Turkey the next day.
It was cleared for passage through the Bosphorus Strait by a team that included Russian and Ukrainian inspectors on Wednesday, and a Ukraine embassy spokesperson had later said it was expected to dock in Lebanon's port of Tripoli at 10am (0700 GMT) on Sunday.
The delivery is the first under a UN-backed deal, brokered with the help of Turkey last month, which aims to ease a global food crisis.
Lebanon, which is struggling with one of the world's worst financial crises, is facing a particularly acute bread shortage.
Kyiv said another three ships loaded with grain set sail from Ukraine on Friday, heading for Turkey and markets in Ireland and Britain. A further 13 are waiting to depart.
Meanwhile, a foreign-flagged ship has arrived in Ukraine for the first time since the war started in February and will be loaded with grain, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.
He said the Barbados-flagged general cargo ship Fulmar S was in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk.
"We are doing (everything) possible to ensure that our ports can receive and handle more vessels," he wrote on Facebook.
"In particular, we plan to reach the level of at least three to five vessels per day in two weeks' (time)."
Ukraine eventually aims to ship out 3 million tonnes a month from its Black Sea ports, he added.
Roughly 20 million tonnes of grain from last year's crops are still stuck in the country.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Read more:
Three grain ships leave Ukraine, one bound for Ireland
Amnesty's Ukraine chief quits over 'propaganda' report
Latest Ukraine stories
