Russia is deliberately hindering the operation of the grain corridor, resulting in the increase of the waiting time for vessels to 3-5 weeks and a shortfall of several million tons in the volume of export of Ukrainian agricultural products every month.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyi stated this at the TRT World Forum, which is taking place in Istanbul, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Ukrinform news agency.
"Over 13 million tons of agricultural products are currently being exported, and we can export tens of millions more tons. Our ports involved in the grain export initiative are operating at only half their capacity. This is only because Russia is hindering exports, keeping ships waiting for inspections. As of today, over 80 ships are waiting," he said.
According to the president, the average waiting time for ships is 3-5 weeks. Because of this, there is a shortfall of 2-3 million tons in the export of Ukrainian agricultural products every month.
Zelenskyi believes that there is a potential solution to this problem. According to him, elimination of several areas of Russian aggression against Ukraine and guaranteeing the safety of the Mykolaiv region and its ports will be another step towards guaranteeing global food security.
