ANKARA

Nine more ships have left Ukrainian ports under the historic Istanbul grain export deal, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said on Sunday. 

A ministry statement did not disclose the ships’ points of departure or destinations.

This July, Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed an agreement to resume grain exports from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports after they were paused when the Russia-Ukraine war began in February.

A Joint Coordination Center with officials from the three countries and the UN was set up in Istanbul to oversee the shipments.

Since the first vessel sailed under the deal on Aug. 1, more than 200 ships have carried over 4 million tons of agricultural products through the grain corridor.