Russia Blocks Maritime Export of 90 Mln Tons of Ukrainian Agroproducts

by Olha Povaliaieva
Monday, May 9, 2022
2 MIN
Russia Blocks Maritime Export of 90 Mln Tons of Ukrainian Agroproducts

70% of Ukraine's exports went through seaports. The MFA head Dmytro Kuleba discussed with Blinken ways to unblock trade with Ukraine and accelerate the end of the war

On May 8, the prime minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, announced a catastrophic figure: 90 million tons of food could not reach families' tables, importing Ukrainian agricultural products because Russia had blocked Ukrainian ports. The danger of this blockade has already begun to lead to a food crisis in the world.

"Ukraine has proved to be a significant producer and supplier of food to the world. Now the world is preparing for a powerful food crisis, caused not by sanctions against Russia but, in fact, by its actions to block our seaports. We cannot export about 90 million tons of agricultural products we have produced,” Denys Shmyhal.

Ukraine is currently negotiating with partner countries to export goods through their ports, but the capacity of these ports is still insufficient for Ukrainian exports. Latvia and Romania already provided their ports to Ukraine. 

"Seaports are blocked, and 70% of these exports go through them. In fact, most of the border is in the war zone or with unfriendly countries. We have a kind of "bottleneck" for export, very reliable, but with much less capacity compared to ports. We are talking about our western border with Europe," Shmyhal.

On May 8, the minister of foreign affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, had a telephone conversation with US secretary of state Antony Blinken. The topic of the dialogue was ways to prevent the global food crisis and tools to unblock Ukrainian ports as much as possible. Putin understands that the blockade of ports not only destroys the Ukrainian economy but also leads to world hunger. Putin is purposefully and deliberately creating food shortages in the world. That is why Kuleba and Blinken discussed steps to speed up Ukraine's victory.

"On Remembrance and Reconciliation Day, Victory Day in Europe, US secretary of state Antony Blinken and I coordinated steps to bring Ukraine's victory day closer. New tough US sanctions against Russia are approaching," Dmytro Kuleba said.

Ukraine will win — the world will be saved. 

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