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any - it was carrying. For its part, Ukraine called Russia's actions piracy and advised captains of civilian ships heading to Ukraine to stay in the territorial waters of NATO countries. At the same time, according to InformNapalm, the Russians lied about the successful inspection of the Sukru Okan vessel in the Black Sea and the warning shots. The ship did not comply with the Russians' demands and temporarily changed its course toward Turkish territorial waters.
Ukraine wants to use new Black Sea corridor to export grain. After a successful evacuation of a vessel along a new corridor on the western Black Sea coast, Ukraine is hoping to use the corridor to export grain, Denys Marchuk, deputy head of the Agrarian Council, said on national television, Reuters reported on Aug. 21.
Romania aims to double the export of Ukrainian grain via alternative routes. Romania will double the capacity of its main Black Sea port of Constanţa and the shipping lanes on the Danube for two months to help Ukraine transport its grain, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said. "In 2023, Ukraine will have about 40 million tons of grain for export. To facilitate this, we have increased the throughput both in the port of Konstanz and on the roads leading to it." According to Ciolacu, increasing the throughput capacity of Constanta and other routes will allow the export of Ukrainian grain to double to four million tons per month. Despite repeated attacks by Russia on Ukrainian grain terminals in the ports of Izmail and Reni, the prime minister believes there is a solution - for example, allowing ships to make night transit from October and increasing cargo traffic to at least 14 ships per day. "Romania will also open more road crossing points and improve its railway infrastructure to speed up the transportation of goods," Coilacu added.
The second ship has left the port of Odesa after the termination of the grain corridor. On the morning of August 26, the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier, Primus, finally left the port of Odesa. The ship is moving in the direction of the Bulgarian port of Varna. During its forced stay in Odesa due to the blockade, the ship's owner changed, as well as its name and nationality. The Primus became the second ship, after the Hong Kong-flagged container ship Joseph Schulte, to leave the port of Odesa after the grain corridor became unusable due to the Russian Federation's hostile actions. The Joseph Schulte used the temporary corridor established by the Ukrainian Navy for civilian vessels and arrived in Turkey on August 18 with more than 30,000 tons of cargo. According to the Ukrainian Sea Ports Administration, as of August 23 six ships with 262,000 tons of freight remained trapped in the ports of Odesa. Meanwhile, the US considers the existing routes for exporting Ukrainian grain "viable" and considers it realistic to restore exports to pre-war levels within the next few months
Cargo ships resume calls to Ukrainian ports on the Danube. The number of ships in the Ukrainian port of Izmail increased to 111 on August 14, compared to 48 last week. According to Marine Traffic, another 33 vessels are expected to arrive at this port. The number of ships in the port of Reni increased to 33 on Monday, compared to 12 last week. Another 11 vessels are expected to arrive. For comparison, on August 9, there were 60 ships in the port of Izmail and 13 in the port of Reni. On Saturday, there were already 72 ships in the port of Izmail, while in Reni, their number decreased to six. Ports of Greater Odesa have not resumed operation after the termination of the grain initiative.
The European Commission will subsidize the transportation of Ukrainian food but will extend the embargo. As Bloomberg writes, this issue is being discussed in meetings of representatives from Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, and Bulgaria, and executives from the EU and Ukraine. The approximate cost of grain transportation is about €30 per ton. This information was confirmed by the European Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski. However, he believes that in addition to subsidizing, it is still
33 UKRAINE Country Report September 2023 www.intellinews.com