Ukraine continues to establish new grain export routes

As a result of piracy by Russian troops, 95 foreign merchant ships remain blocked in Ukrainian ports, exacerbating the global food crisis and economic pressure on Ukraine. After the Ukrainian army destroyed the Moscow cruiser, Russian ships retreated to the west coast of Crimea, but they continue to block ports, threatening other ships with fire.

There are no hopes for a UN operation to unblock commercial vessels, especially given the rocket attack on Kyiv during the UN Secretary General's stay there, who arrived in Ukraine after a failed visit to Russia. The intensification of UN diplomatic missions on the 63rd day of full-scale war in Ukraine is surprising and shows that the international security system is not able to withstand the pressure of Russian aggression.

This week, the Ukrainian government intensified the search for new car and rail export routes to ports and terminals in neighboring countries - Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and the Baltic states.

On Tuesday, the Prime Ministers of Ukraine and Romania discussed the possibility of expanding export and transit corridors on Romanian territory and using additional reserves of Romanian seaports. In order to revive the transit of goods, the Ukrainian side proposed to open the checkpoint Dyakivtsi (Ukraine) - Rakovets (Romania) as soon as possible, giving it the status of a crossing for freight traffic.

The Minister of Agrarian Policy of Ukraine M. Solsky, who is in Lithuania, said on Tuesday that Lithuania and Latvia have good opportunities to export Ukrainian grain, but rail connections remain a problem, as Ukraine and the Baltic states have a wider railway track than Poland. However, the railways of neighboring countries are working on this problem, and technical solutions will be found in the near future.

On Wednesday, the Lithuanian Railways (Lietuvos gelezinkeliai) will send a freight train to Ukraine to test the possibility of reorienting the export of Ukrainian agricultural products through the Baltic ports. The train is testing the route through Poland to the Sheshtokai railway station and will deliver containers with various goods from Ukraine.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister of Bulgaria Kirill Petkov met with the President of Ukraine Zelensky in Kyiv and proposed the creation of a logistics hub for transshipment of Ukrainian agricultural products in the Bulgarian port of Varna.