Over 40M tons of Ukrainian grain shipped through Solidarity Lanes - EU spokesman

That’s according to Peter Stano, the spokesman for the EU External Action Service, who spoke in an interview with Ukraine’s public broadcaster Suspilne.

It is very important to see that the Solidarity Lanes have allowed to export more than it was possible to transport via the Black Sea Grain Initiative, he noted.

At the same time, Stano said that the said initiative, in the absence of normal navigation in the Black Sea, is only a temporary solution.

"We are trying to do everything possible because it helps Ukraine and it helps people all over the world who depend on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products. Therefore, we are also thinking about other ways in which we can support Ukraine, how we can increase the volume of supplies, how we can reduce the cost, and how we can increase the pace and efficiency," the EU spokesperson said, according to a report published in Ukrainian.

As reported earlier, in May 2023, the European Commission banned the import of wheat, corn, rapeseed, and sunflower from Ukraine to Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Romania at the insistence of the said countries. On June 5, the ban was extended until September 15, 2023.

Ukrainian agricultural and business associations turned to the European Commission with a proposal to optimize alternative routes ("Solidarity Lanes") for grain exports from Ukraine to European ports with further transportation to third countries.

In particular, farmers propose that the European Commission compensate part of the costs of European carriers and ports that transship Ukrainian grain, as well as introduce "green corridors" for Ukrainian agricultural products to the seaports of the Baltic states, Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia.