Russia Allows Only 2 Ships To Enter Ukrainian Ports Via Grain Corridor Since 4 June

Russian representatives registered two inbound vessels for participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative (which established a humanitarian maritime corridor to allow ships to export grain and other foodstuffs from Ukraine) on 4 June, the same day they applied to participate.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories, and Infrastructure announced this in a statement, the CFTS portal reports.

"This violates the adopted rules for inspecting ships, which stipulate that those that have been waiting for the longest time should be inspected first," the ministry said in the statement.

According to the statement, the Russians thus ignored the need to inspect 56 ships that have been waiting for a long time (some for over three months) in Turkish territorial waters to enter Ukrainian ports.

"Russia’s representatives in the Joint Coordination Center are registering limited numbers of inbound ships, and their logic for selecting ships for registration is unclear and opaque. The Russian side does not specify the criteria for the number and order of selection of vessels for registration, essentially selecting vessels for inspection at its own discretion. This makes the planning of operations as difficult as possible for all the participants of the grain initiative," the ministry said.

The inspection plan for 6 June 2023 provided for the conduct of nine inspections (3 inbound and 6 outbound ships), but the Russians usually implement no more than half of the plan that they agree upon. The average number of vessels inspected per day was only three in May, and no vessels have been inspected since 1 June because Russia is blocking the registration of new vessels for inspection.

"These actions by the Russians have made it impossible to draw up an inspection plan," the ministry said.

Currently, 67 vessels are awaiting inspection in Turkish territorial waters, including 58 ships heading to Ukrainian ports to be loaded with agricultural products and 9 already loaded.

Russia has been blocking the passage of ships to the Pivdennyi seaport for more than one month, which grossly violates the terms of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.