The port cities in southwestern Ukraine were again the target of Russian attacks on Thursday night. Mykolaiv and Odessa in particular are said to have been hit hard. According to the Ukrainian authorities, houses in both cities were damaged and partially destroyed. In Mykolayiv alone, at least one person is said to have been killed and 19 injured, including children.
According to the Ukrainian military, the Russian army had launched 19 drones and cruise missiles each, of which only 13 drones and five cruise missiles could be intercepted. Ukraine’s anti-aircraft defenses, while very effective, are currently not well equipped to adequately protect all metropolitan areas and potential targets.
The Ukrainian Black Sea ports are said to have been hit again. On Wednesday night, among other things, granaries on the Black Sea were the target of Russian attacks with drones and rockets. In the port of Chornomorsk, south of Odessa, 60,000 tons of grain are said to have been destroyed. It is still unclear what damage the new attacks have caused. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, sharply criticized the attack on Thursday. Bombing port facilities and granaries is “barbaric,” Borrell said at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made a similar statement. She accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of using “as a weapon” Ukrainian grain, which is exported to many poor parts of the world via the Black Sea. Earlier this week, the Russian government let expire the agreement that had allowed Ukraine’s grain to be exported across the Black Sea despite the war.
After Russia canceled the grain agreement and Moscow threatened to regard all ships in the Black Sea that call at Ukrainian ports as “potential transporters of military goods” and thus as “enemies”, the United States has now warned of attacks on civilian shipping in the region. There are indications that further sea mines have been laid in front of Ukrainian ports. Adam Hodges, spokesman for the National Security Council at the White House, said: “We believe this is a coordinated effort to justify attacks on civilian ships in the Black Sea and blame Ukraine for these attacks.”
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry also responded to the threat from Moscow on Thursday and announced that it would consider all ships calling at Russian or Russian-held Black Sea ports as potentially loaded with military supplies. We also have the means to repel Russian aggression at sea. Even if the Ukrainian side is primarily reflecting the Russian announcement, this should be understood as a threat to all states whose flag ships are sailing in the Black Sea. Further exports of grain by sea seem to be ruled out for the time being.
There are already corridors for overland transport, they just don’t work
Foreign Minister Baerbock said in Brussels that, given the blocked transport route across the Black Sea, the EU should help ensure that more Ukrainian grain can be exported overland via Eastern Europe. To this end, the EU has created so-called solidarity corridors. They lead through Poland and the Baltic States to the Baltic Sea and across the Balkans to the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. Grain can be brought by rail to ports in the EU via the corridors and shipped from there.
However, these corridors do not function smoothly. Several Eastern European countries have complained in recent months that Ukrainian grain is staying in their country and is ruining prices for local farmers. Some Eastern European countries had therefore closed their borders to grain from Ukraine. The sale of Ukrainian agricultural goods on the EU internal market is possible because the Union has temporarily granted the attacked country duty-free access to its market for reasons of political solidarity and economic support. In order to calm the protesting East Europeans, the EU paid countries like Poland and Hungary additional aid in the hundreds of millions.
In Brussels, the EU foreign ministers also discussed Borrell’s proposal for long-term financing of European military aid to Ukraine. Borrell wants to equip an EU special fund with 20 billion euros for four years. Such a fund, from which states are compensated that hand over arms to Ukraine, already exists. However, when it is empty, it is filled up ad hoc by the EU countries with a few billion. The solution proposed by Borrell met with little enthusiasm from the EU foreign ministers. “It’s not enough to just throw a buzz around,” said Baebock.