Aug. 12, 2024, 9:39 p.m.
(Photo: Bridget Brink / X)
Over the year, 2290 vessels left the ports of Odesa region.
US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink wrote about this on the social network X.
She noted that the vessels transported 63 million tons of cargo from Ukrainian ports.
"To date, over the past year, 2,290 ships have left Ukraine's Black Sea ports, carrying 63 million tons of cargo, including grain, to feed the world and support Ukraine's economy - a tremendous achievement in the face of Russia's illegal invasion," the US ambassador wrote.
In early May, it became known that in the nearly nine months of the humanitarian corridor's operation, 45 million tons of cargo were exported from Odesa region ports to 44 countries. During this period, nearly 1,600 ships used the Ukrainian grain corridor. They mostly exported Ukrainian farmers' goods to global food markets. According to the Ministry, 38 countries received more than 30 million tons of products.
It was also mentioned that on July 1, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria began jointly searching for mines in the Black Sea to improve the safety of shipping, including the export of Ukrainian grain from the ports of the Greater Odesa region. The Istanbul-led initiative is the first major joint action by Black Sea states since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 to clear mines drifting into certain areas of the Black Sea as a result of the war. Despite Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria's membership in NATO, their naval forces are outside the organization, in part to avoid escalating tensions with Russia.
On Thursday, January 11, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey signed an agreement to establish a coalition to clear the Black Sea of mines. The coalition's activities will be exclusively peaceful.
In October 2023, Turkey, Romania, and Bulgaria began discussing the creation of a joint force to clear any mines that fall into their waters from Russia's war against Ukraine.
At the same time, Ukraine is also demining the Black Sea, but currently does not have the capacity to conduct a full-scale operation in the sea.