The first ship to leave Ukraine carrying grain under a safe passage agreement will anchor off the coast of Istanbul around 12:00 GMT on Tuesday for a joint inspection, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday.

Akar was speaking in an interview with Türkiye's state-owned Anadolu news agency after the Sierra Leone-flagged ship Razoni, which is loaded with corn, left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for Lebanon.

As part of the agreement, a Joint Coordination Centre was set up in Istanbul with personnel from the United Nations, Russia, Ukraine and Türkiye.