After Russian withdrawal from the grain deal, its missiles and drones destroyed 280,000 tons of Ukrainian grain.
This was reported by RBC-Ukraine with reference to the Financial Times.
Over the past two months, Russia has launched a series of drone attacks on Ukraine's southern ports. Their goal was to destroy Ukraine's economic infrastructure and export routes created to break Moscow's blockade of the Black Sea.
Over the past year, Ukraine, that produces half of the world's sunflower oil exports and 10% of wheat, has exported about 35mn tons of grain across the Danube. Together with rail freight through Europe, this has provided vital economic support for a country defending itself against aggression by Russian invaders.
Kernel CEO Yevhen Osypo predicts that high costs will undermine Ukrainian grain production and cause exports to halve from last year's level in 2024 to around 35mn tons.
"Ukrainian farmers are not interested in growing crops, as they are simply losing money," he comments.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian farmers and shippers note that the Danube's capacity can be expanded further.
"The advantage of the Danube is that there are many places to load and the infrastructure is distributed. This also means that Ukraine does not dance to Russia's tune," says Andriy Vadaturskyy, CEO of Nibulon.
Russia has been regularly shelling the grain infrastructure of southern Ukraine since 17 July, when the Kerch bridge was blown up once again and on the same day Russia refused to extend the grain deal.
Turkey and the UN offer to ease sanctions against Russia in exchange for the restoration of the grain corridor. In particular, to connect the subsidiary bank of Rosselkhozbank to SWIFT and to unfreeze the Russian assets of companies producing the grain in Europe.