ISTANBUL, 06 August 2022, (TON): Three more ships with grain have left Ukrainian ports and are headed to Turkey for inspection, Turkey’s defense ministry said, evidence that a U.N.-backed deal is working to export Ukrainian grain that has been trapped by Russia’s invasion.

The three ships are loaded with over 58,000 tons of corn. Much of the grain that Ukraine exports is used as animal feed, experts say.

Ukraine is one of the world’s main breadbaskets and the stocks of grain trapped were exacerbating a sharp rise of food prices and raising fears of a global hunger crisis.

The departure of the ships comes after the first grain shipment since the start of the war left Ukraine earlier this week. It crossed the Black Sea under the breakthrough wartime deal and passed inspection Wednesday in Istanbul and then headed on to Lebanon.