Posted on 07/19/2023 4:35:37 PM PDT by Mariner
Ukraine is ready to restart grain exports despite Russia’s naval blockade of the Black Sea, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday, as Russian forces launched a fresh barrage of missiles at the Ukrainian ports where many of the grain shipments originate.
“We are ready to take any risks,” Kuleba said in an exclusive interview with TIME a day after Russia suspended its participation in the year-old Black Sea Grain Initiative which has allowed Ukraine’s vast supplies of grain to reach global markets despite the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine. “I think our message to the world is simply: We don’t need Russia.”
Kuleba’s declaration showed Kyiv’s willingness to call Moscow’s bluff amid the standoff in the Black Sea, potentially moving ahead with the export of grain despite the threat of a Russian attack on civilian cargo ships. With the price of grain spiking worldwide, it also highlights the stakes for the international community, including Turkey and the United Nations, which brokered the grain deal last year.
On Monday, after withdrawing from the grain deal, the Kremlin warned that cargo ships face “certain risks” when leaving Ukrainian ports in “immediate proximity to the area of hostilities.” If shipments resume without a formal agreement involving Russia, “then these risks should be taken into account,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday. On Wednesday Russia’s defense ministry declared that any ships sailing to Ukrainian ports will be treated as “potential carriers of military cargo,” while the countries responsible for these shipments will be considered “involved” in the war on the Ukrainian side.
In his interview Tuesday with TIME in New York City, Kuleba acknowledged the risk that a commercial vessel carrying thousands of tons of grain could be “drowned by a Russian mine or a Russian missile.”
(Excerpt) Read more at yahoo.com ...
And, obviously, before the US announced they would not assist/protect any ship entering or leaving Ukrainian ports.
Hopium is a helluva drug.
The key to Vlad honoring the grain deal was Turkey keeps the US pet Nazis captured at Marioupol, till wars end- well, Turkey returned the Nazis, negating the agreement……the Ukies can now ship by truck/ rail to Poland….and Vlad says Checkmate again.
Laughable bluster from Ukraine.
“The key to Vlad honoring the grain deal was Turkey keeps the US pet Nazis captured at Marioupol, till wars end”
It was far, far more than that.
It also called for normal,sanction free market access for Russian AG (inclusive of potash) and normal, sanction free access to the worldwide banking system for Russian AG banks.
The west reneged on all of it. Rather, in most cases never implemented it.
I guess the US will simply purchase and ship the grain in Chinook helicopters. Pallets of cash ‘n all that. /s
I read only 2% of that grain ever made it to ‘developing countries’. Most of it went to western EU, so my Italian and French friends, that daily bread purchase is going to get a lot more expensive.
Send a thank you to your coke addled tranny pal.
Ports in Odessa are 25% of Ukraine’s economy and 70% of it’s exports.
Who is going to pick up that bill?
The American taxpayer, of course.
Talk is cheap.
Thanks for showing us that port.
What is the significance ?
Up to 8 Tu-22m3 bombers flying in the direction of the Black Sea according to Ukrainian radio monitors
7:46 PM · Jul 19, 2023
They will do some damage somewhere.
They could truck goods in/out of the port of Constanta to Ukraine... far from optimal though..
Good luck with that. The only grain transports from Ukraine are going by truck or train.
They need at least two dozen ships a day to haul wheat to get the grain out. If they use rail they will be lucky to ship 20% of it.
That’s not how the EU agricultural markets work. Europe (EU) itself produces large grain surpluses. And is a major exporter.
One of the prime jobs of the original Common Market was to keep ag prices UP, so as not to immiserate farmers.
International prices are effectively the result of overall supply (of supplies that are internationally available) and net demand that is not locally fulfilled.
All of that wheat is shipped TO Odessa by rail.
And check out the rail layout in the region.
It’s not that much of a problem to ship it out of Ukraine that way. Arrangements will have to be made to get it to some other Euro ports.
Constanta is close to Odessa and it’s connected by rail. Just one option.
Another is through Poland to Gdansk.
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