The headquarters that will coordinate the trade of millions of tons of trapped grain out of Ukraine was formally unveiled in Istanbul on Wednesday after a landmark United Nations-led deal last week, with the first shipments expected to depart from Black Sea ports within days.

Russia and Ukraine signed identical agreements last Friday with the United Nations and Turkey in Istanbul aimed at providing safe corridors for ships going in and out of three Ukrainian Black Sea ports that have been blocked by Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.

The joint coordination center (JCC) will oversee departures from the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Yuzhny, in which ships must circumvent mines, and will conduct inspections of incoming ships for weapons. All vessels pass through Turkish waters.

"The duty of the center is to provide safe sea transportation of grain and similar food products to be exported from Ukraine," Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said as he unveiled the headquarters.

Akar said preparations were ongoing for the first ships to leave Ukrainian ports.

Ukrainian, U.N. and Turkish officials have all expressed hope that the first vessels would depart one of the Black Sea ports in a few days. But they have also said it could take two weeks for all three ports to become operational again.

The war has wreaked havoc on global trade, stranding over 100 ships in Ukraine’s many ports.

The goal over the next months is to get more than 20 million tons of wheat and other grain out of silos in Ukraine and ship them across the Black Sea to millions of impoverished people worldwide who are facing hunger.

Whole world watching

The implementation of the plan, including the scheduling of ships along the route, will be monitored from the center staffed by representatives from all parties. A total of 20 personnel from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the U.N. will work side-by-side at the center.

"The staff working at this center are aware that the eyes of the world are upon them," Akar told reporters in his address at the National Defense University in Istanbul’s central Levent neighborhood, where the JCC is located.

The center will register and monitor the departure of commercial ships via satellite, internet and other communication means, the minister said. He added that the ships will be inspected by joint inspection teams at locations deemed suitable for loading at Ukrainian ports and upon arrival at ports in Turkey.

He stressed that the deal will be valid for 120 days, and it will be renewed unless there is a demand otherwise from any of the parties.

"It is our hope that the center will make the greatest contribution possible to humanitarian needs and peace."

If left unaddressed, the grain problem could have caused security problems due to hunger and global irregular migration, the minister warned.

Akar said more than 25 million tons of grain was waiting to be exported. "Currently, the preparation and planning is continuing for the first ships laden with grain that will leave Ukrainian ports."

Vital to millions of people

Getting wheat and other food out is critical to farmers in Ukraine, who are running out of storage capacity as they harvest their fields. Those grains are vital to millions of people in Africa, parts of the Middle East and South Asia, who are already facing food shortages and, in some cases, famine.

Ukraine and Russia are key global suppliers of wheat, barley, corn and sunflower oil, with fighting in the Black Sea region, known as the "breadbasket of the world," pushing up food prices, threatening political stability in developing nations and leading countries to ban some food exports, worsening the crisis.

Moscow has denied responsibility for the food crisis, blaming Western sanctions for slowing exports and Ukraine for mining the approaches to its ports.

On demining Ukrainian ports, Akar said if there is a need, the parties will act accordingly, but added: "At this stage, there is no need for demining."

U.N. estimates say nearly 50 million people began to face "acute hunger" around the world as a direct consequence of the war.

Wheat prices fell sharply hours after the grain deal was signed. But the deal was almost immediately thrown into jeopardy after Russia fired cruise missiles on the port of Odessa, Ukraine’s largest, on Saturday morning, just 12 hours after the signing ceremony in Istanbul.

Both Moscow and Kyiv have said they will push forward with the agreement, the first major diplomatic breakthrough in the conflict, now in its sixth month.

But Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Wednesday the deal could collapse if obstacles to Russia’s agricultural exports are not promptly removed, Interfax reported.

Operations resume at ports

Dozens of cargo ships have started preparing to depart from the three Black Sea ports after being stranded at sea for five months due to the ongoing clashes.

Kyiv on Wednesday said works had resumed at the ports designated for grain exports.

"In connection with the signing of the agreement on the unblocking of Ukrainian ports for the export of grain, work has resumed in the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk and Pivdennyi," the Ukrainian navy said in a statement on social media.

Ukraine said Monday that some exports could restart as early as "this week."

The navy said in its statement that when exports do resume, cargo ships will be escorted to and from the ports.

"The entry and exit of ships to seaports will be carried out by forming a convoy that will accompany the lead ship," it said in the statement, adding that safe routes were still being determined.

‘We were worried’

A Turkish official said all the details regarding the ships’ departure had been worked out, including a safe route that will not require the clearing of sea mines.

"It will not take more than a few days. It looks like the first grains will be loaded this week and its export from Ukraine will take place," said the official, who requested anonymity.

NATO member Turkey has taken pride in being able to maintain open diplomatic relations with both Moscow and Kyiv throughout the conflict.

The deal came together just days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed Ukraine with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Tehran.

Erdoğan is due to meet Putin again at the Russian leader’s Black Sea retreat in Sochi on Aug. 5.

But Ankara has also issued measured criticism of Russia’s strike on Odessa. "The Odessa attack worried everyone. We were worried too," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in an online interview on Wednesday.

"At the end, this was not an attack that could have blocked the harbor’s functioning. But this kind of attack should not be repeated. We hope that the agreement might function without any issues."