A ship carrying a cargo of 33,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grain has arrived at the port of Foynes in Co Limerick.
The vessel, the Navi Star, is one of the grain ships that were allowed to leave Ukraine following a UN-Turkey brokered agreement between Russia and Ukraine to lift the blockade of Ukrainian ports.
The ship, laden with grain for animal use, left the port of Odesa two weeks ago.
It comes as two more ships carrying grain left Ukraine's Chornomorsk port, Turkey's Defence Ministry said today.
The Ship's captain, who was greeting ashore by the Ukrainian Ambassador Larysa Gerasko, said they had spent a frightening time in Odesa and he was very grateful to those who had secured their safe passage.
This brings the total number of vessels to leave Ukraine's Black Sea ports under a UN-brokered grain export deal to 27.
The first shipment of grain into Ireland since the outbreak of war in #Ukraine has just arrived on the bulk carrier NAVI STAR @ShannonFoynes - the shipment of corn for R & H Hall will be unloaded over coming days. More @rtenews pic.twitter.com/mzT487dE6q
— JennïeØSullivân (@OSullivanJennie) August 20, 2022
The grain deal has held, but brought little respite along the sprawling front lines after nearly six months of fighting between US-supplied Ukrainian forces and the Russian military.
It is the only significant agreement between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow invaded in February.
UN secretary general Antonio Guterres is today visiting the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul, which is made up of Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN officials overseeing the Black Sea exports of Ukraine grain and fertilizer.
He said that governments and the private sector should cooperate to bring Russian food and fertilizers - as well as Ukrainian grain - to world markets.
"The other part of this package deal is the unimpeded access to the global markets of Russian food and fertilizer, which are not subject to sanctions," Mr Guterres told a news conference.
"Getting more food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia is crucial to further calm commodity markets and lower prices for consumers", he added.
"We agreed to continue the coordination of the grain initiative implementation. We also discussed the possible directions of its development," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, after meeting with the UN chief yesterday.
Mr Guterres said the United Nations wants to step up grain exports from Ukraine before winter.
"We will do our best to scale up our operations to face... the coming winter," he urged.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world's biggest grain exporters.
The halt of exports had led to price increases globally amid fears of widespread food shortages, particularly in poor countries.
Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russian forces of ransacking its grain warehouses since they invaded the country on 24 February.
