Nine days after Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement, Russian troops destroyed 180,000 tons of food with shelling. This was reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
It is noted that the Russians struck port cities and grain warehouses. The Russians attacked 26 objects of the port infrastructure of Ukraine and five civilian vessels. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called it another series of Russian war crimes.
“We must stop the ‘Hunger Games’ and ensure global food security now,” the diplomatic service added. Against the backdrop of Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement, Russian troops have stepped up shelling of infrastructure in Ukraine, primarily in Odesa.
Ukraine’s ambassador to Germany, Oleksiy Makeyev, called on NATO to protect grain carriers traveling through the Black Sea from Russia, following the example of the fight against pirates in Africa. He said that the alliance’s intervention would significantly improve the situation with the safety of ships.
The diplomat believes that there are not enough routes left at Ukraine’s disposal to export grain in the previous volumes.
“Now Russia has cut off all these ways. The Danube, the railway and the highway will not be enough now,” said Makeev.
After Russia’s withdrawal from the grain agreement, ships in the Black Sea are in danger, he emphasized.
“If NATO protected Ukrainian cargo and merchant ships passing through the Black Sea, it would be a very good sign, just as NATO and the EU protected or are protecting sea lanes from piracy in the Mediterranean Sea or the Horn of Africa. And now not a single ship in The Black Sea does not feel safe and free,” said the Ambassador of Ukraine to Germany.
Western overland routes will not solve the problems of Ukrainian grain export, according to Dmytro Moskalenko, the general director of the Ukrainian Danube Shipping Company. It is economically unprofitable for farmers to transport products across Europe, so there is no alternative to the Danube.
After withdrawing from the grain agreement, Russia withdrew guarantees of non-attack on civilian vessels near Odessa. Russia massively attacked Odessa from the air, causing serious damage to the ports in Odessa and Chornomorsk, which worked in the grain corridor. In the port of Chornomorsk, 60,000 tons of grain destined for China were destroyed. In just nine days of July, as a result of Russian attacks, 26 port infrastructure facilities and five civilian ships were damaged and partially destroyed.
On July 26, British intelligence reported that Russia had apparently sent a corvette to intercept Black Sea transports.
The export of Ukrainian grain to third countries through the Baltic corridor is a difficult task and associated with logistical problems, but the use of Latvian ports for this purpose is possible, said the Minister of Agriculture of Latvia Didzis Shmits: “We are working on practical solutions, and it is not absolutely impossible. The capacity of our ports makes it possible to do this. The challenges are related to the different widths of railway tracks.”
Speaking about technical solutions, the Latvian minister said that entrepreneurs are analyzing ways to quickly move goods from one train to another.
“Of course, it is difficult and expensive, but if there are no other solutions, then the corridor through the Baltic states is also a solution,” he said.
In mid-July, the Russian Federation withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and launched a series of attacks on Ukrainian port infrastructure. According to the assessment of the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure Oleksandr Kubrakov, the Russians damaged 26 port infrastructure facilities and five civilian ships in nine days.
Subsequently, a letter with a proposal to strengthen the transport route between Ukraine and the Baltic countries in order to support the export of Ukrainian agricultural products was sent to the leadership of the European Commission by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Communications and Agriculture of Lithuania Gabrielius Landsbergis, Marius Skoudis and Kestučius Navickas.