This is how food stocks in Ukraine are stopped from reaching the outside world

For months, Turkey has wanted to play a role as a mediator in the war and plans to establish a center in Istanbul that monitors and coordinates shipping in the Black Sea.

Ukraine used to ship most of its food from Odessa and the now completely shattered city of Mariupol on the Sea of ​​Azov.

More than 95 percent of all wheat and maize exported from Ukraine has been transported on the Black Sea.

The war changed everything.

Cereals in Ukraine are now at risk of rotting. There are up to 25 million tonnes in facilities – and soon 50 million tonnes will be added to the new harvest. Ukraine has accused Russia of deliberately provoking a global food crisis.

Currently, around 85 ships in the port of Odessa loaded with grain, prevented from leaving Ukraine due to Russia’s blockade, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently.

Russia has offered to lift the blockade of Ukrainian ports if sanctions against Russia end.

This is what Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has called “blackmail”.

At the same time, the outside world is being tormented of sharply rising food prices. Countries such as Moldova, Lebanon, Tunisia, Pakistan, Egypt and Bangladesh normally buy a large part of their wheat from Ukraine. Rapeseed oil has become an even greater Ukrainian export success – with the country accounting for 42 percent of the world market.

Alternatives to Ukrainian shipping in the Black Sea are currently being investigated. Not because it can be replaced. The volumes normally consumed by ships are very difficult to match. But to save some of the stocks, work is underway to find parallel freight routes on rivers, roads and railways. This is where the Lithuanian coastal city of Klaipeda, with around 180,000 inhabitants, comes into the picture with its port, says the head of the port, Algis Latakas.

The port of Klaipeda has large silos for grain. There is a deep port – and a railway connection with Ukraine via Poland.

Lithuanian and Ukrainian politicians have met and discussed how grain in Ukraine can be shipped to the outside world. One of the alternatives is via the port of Klaipeda. The Lithuanian railway has carried out pilot transports through Poland to Klaipeda, says the port manager in Klaipeda in a written interview with DN.

– We have the capacity and infrastructure and are ready to handle some of the shipments from Ukraine of corn and cooking oil.

So far, freight has been staggering. They lasted for three weeks. But in order for the flow of goods through Poland to be greater, more train carriages are required.

The best thing would have been about rail transport from Ukraine passed through Belarus. It is the straightest route between Ukraine and the Baltics. But in Belarus, dictator Alexander Lukashenko, a close friend of Vladimir Putin, rules. And Lukashenko let the Russian president use Belarus territory as a starting point for the Russian troops invading Ukraine.

For that reason, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky now says he will not allow any export of Ukrainian food by rail through Belarus.

Negotiations remain on opening the Black Sea for transport.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has offered military assistance in clearing mines outside Odessa. And stand as a guarantor that the Russian navy does not attack Ukrainian ships loaded with grain.

Turkey and Russia have, according to Bloomberg News, reached a preliminary settlement.

Ukraine does not seem as interested. Transport of agricultural products on the Black Sea would certainly provide the country with income – and the outside world the goods it needs. But without mines, Odessa would then be open to Russian attacks.

The Ukrainian president is seeking guarantees that the country’s ports will be protected from Russian attacks even if the mines are cleared.

Turkey hopes for the UN. If the UN, which is also involved in negotiations, supports the proposal on the Black Sea, it may calm Ukraine down.

But according to President Zelensky, neither he nor Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba have been invited to the talks in Turkey.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is all the more hopeful and positive that a solution can be reached on the Black Sea.

By commenting in advance that an agreement has been reached, Russia is trying to place the responsibility on Ukraine for the interrupted food deliveries, Ukraine’s Deputy Finance Minister Taras Katjka points out in international media.

– But the fact is that the food crisis has been provoked by Russia and only Russia, he says.