The shipping corridor has provided a crucial lifeline to Ukrainian farmers, as well as a means of helping to ease soaring global grain prices.
Officials coordinating a United Nations-backed deal to allow grain exports from the port of Odessa are investigating reports of a mine-like object in the shipping corridor that Ukraine and Russia have agreed to safeguard.
The Joint Coordination Center, composed of United Nations, Ukrainian, Turkish and Russian officials, was set up to oversee the smooth running of the deal, which has resulted in the safe export of millions of tons of grain that was bottled up earlier in the war.