Three civilian cargo ships (from Israel, Greece and one with Turkish-Georgian registration) passed the Russian blockade in the Black Sea and anchored in one of the Ukrainian grain ports in the Danube Delta, writes Forbes.
According to the report, the ships were traveling with their radio transponders on, making their location and course visible to anyone with access to the Internet and ship-tracking websites.
NATO planes closely watched the ships as they headed for Izmail, a small Ukrainian port on the Danube River. It is likely that the ships will load grain in Izmail and then return to the Black Sea and head to foreign ports.
"Reports of three civilian ships sailing unhindered to Ukraine may indicate that Russia is either unwilling or unable to carry out such searches at this time," the publication reported with reference to the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.
Russia refused to continue the "grain agreement" after 17 July and began actively shelling the port infrastructure of Ukraine, that was involved in the export of agricultural products. The head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba called on the EU to expand all available ways for Ukrainian grain exports. He stated specific proposals of Ukraine, particularly to develop the Danube cluster, as well as the Adriatic and Baltic transport corridors.
The head of EU diplomacy Josep Borrell called for an increase in the export of Ukrainian grain through land corridors and noted that Ukraine's neighbours will have to make more efforts to help export products from Black Sea ports.