Russia has bombed in the last hours Ukrainian facilities for the storage of grain in ports on the Danube River, causing at least seven injuries and causing a substantial increase in the price of this vital raw material for food security in a good number of countries of the so-called Global South. After the collapse of the grain pactwhich had allowed Ukraine to carry out its exports through the Black Sea Regardless of the vicissitudes of the war, the Kremlin seems determined to prevent its neighbor to the west and enemy from continuing to trade agricultural products through this alternative river routewhich in recent months had become increasingly important given the growing difficulties of the maritime route.
About thirty ships they had anchored this Monday in the vicinity of the Ukrainian river port of Izmail without wanting to enter upstreamay without the reason being disclosed, as confirmed by the Reuters agency and this newspaper has verified from the maritime traffic data. In the previous hours, “Russian terrorists” had “attacked the Odessa region during the night, this time against port infrastructure on the Danube river,” he denounced. Oleh Kiperthe regional governor, in a message posted on his Twitter account.
damaged containers
Ukrainian security forces offered few details of what happened, and the website has been Reni-Odesafrom the homonymous town on the banks of the Danube River, the main source of information about the incident. According to the publication, during a drone bombardment, three grain silos were destroyed in the port of Reni, at a sixty kilometers from the mouth. A company spokesperson A.P. Moller Maersk Ashas limited itself to stating that some containers had been damaged, but that operations had resumed right away. The images released by the police showed precisely damaged containers with the logo of said company. Information from other media outlets also reported explosions in the town of Izmail, the second of the large ukrainian river portss in the final stretch of the Danube riveralthough no official confirmation was produced.
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The figures bear witness to how Ukraine had substantially increased its exports of grain across the Danube as alternative to the growing blockade by the Black Sea. Currently, two million tons used this route to reach their destination markets, although its capacity, according to Mikola Gorbachevhead of the Ukrainian Grain Association, reaches 3.5 million tons. With “the pending improvements”, stresses the leader, we could reach the “4.5 million”, although all this is now in the eaves due to the Russian attacks in the last hours. “Those ports were the main hope for Ukraine to export its grains and sunflower seeds,” he told Reuters. Carlos Meraanalyst of rabobank. “At this moment it is not clear what the damage has been and if Russia will carry out these attacks frequently in the future,” he continued.
The immediate effect has been an increase in the global price of grain in the main markets. In Chicagohad increased during Monday by almost 7%a figure to which should be added the 5% increase experienced last week. “This recent (war) escalation poses great risks to the security of the Black Sea“, has admitted the president of Romania, klaus iohannis. “Russia is trying to completely block our export of grain and make the world go hungry“, denounced the governor of the Odesa region.