Seventy-seven ships in line to pass through ‘grain corridor’ in Turkey
"The grain initiative has been extended for 120 days, but Russia still has the tools to artificially limit its capabilities," Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov posted on Facebook.
The minister noted that currently, 77 vessels were in line for inspection in Turkey. Due to the stance of the Russian Federation, there are five times fewer inspections a day than there were before and the ports of Odesa region use up to 50% of their capacity. As a result, Ukraine is expected not to exceed 3 million tonnes of grain exports in November. In contrast, in October the exports reached 4.3 million tonnes and technically Ukraine was able to export 6 million tonnes per month.
Kubrakov discussed ways to strengthen the grain initiative and expand its capabilities with U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink and U.S. Department of State Sanctions Coordinator James O'Brien.
"Strategically, we should achieve not only speeding up inspections on the Bosphorus but also involving Mykolaiv ports in the initiative and extending the agreement for at least a year. As for the involvement of Mykolaiv ports in the initiative, we officially appealed to the UN and Turkey with a proposal to consider changes to the initiative," the minister emphasized.
As reported, despite the war, Ukraine will fulfill its export obligations regarding the supply of grain and other agricultural products to the world market. President Zelensky made a corresponding statement at the first international summit to implement the Grain from Ukraine program initiated by Ukraine.
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