KIEV, Nov. 18 - An oil tanker docked and started to unload its crude oil at Ukraine’s Pivdenniy oil terminal near Odessa to be sent to Belarus via the Odessa-Brody oil pipeline, an official at the terminal said Thursday.

The development is part of a test-run aimed at proving that massive shipments of Venezuelan crude to Belarus will not disrupt supplies of Russian crude to the European Union.

“The unloading of the tanker is currently underway,” the official said.