The ships maneuvered and disengaged ...

Despite all the threats of Russia, foreign dry cargo loads stretched for Ukrainian ports for grain

More than one and a half dozen foreign ships, ignoring the threats of Russia, on Monday 31 on July 31 went through the Black Sea and entered Ukrainian ports to continue to move Danube Delta. They were accompanied by the American anti-submarine aircraft P8 and the Forte12 RQ-4 intelligence drone. This information was published by OSINT analyst Marcus Johnson.

“Three civilian cargo ships-one of Israel and Greece plus one with the Turkish-Georgian registration-broke through the Russian blockade in the Black Sea on Sunday and anchored in one of the grain ports of Ukraine in the Danube Delta,” Forbes confirms.

The publication reports that the vessels with the transponders turned on openly proceeded from the Bosphorus to the Izmail port “under the supervision” of the four NATO combat aircraft: the US Navy P-8 P-8 P-8 Navy aircraft, the U.S. Challenger, with the radar of surface scanning, the RQ-4 of the US Air Force and the E-3 early warning from NATO. In addition, according to Forbes, Italian and Romanian fighters were noticed nearby.

The Russian state media is the fact of dry cargoes in the zone, which Moscow considers to be controlled by its military is still ignored. In Ukraine, what is happening is called a “breakthrough of the blockade”, and the sailors who decided to enter the Ukrainian ports - heroes.

“It is reported that on the night of July 30, three civil vessels AMS1, Sahin 2 and Yilmaz Kaptan passed Turkish straits. The ships left the ports of Israel, Greece and Turkey. The destination in AIS was designated as Ukraine,

-It is said on the popular military site Militarnyi, where the military-political events of Ukraine are discussed. - Brave sailors! It seems that someone came up with how to give the Russians a turn from the gate! Greetings! "

It is still known that 16 dry cargo loads, which before that in indecision stood in neutral waters, are now heading to the Danube delta.

From there, as expected, they will come out, loaded with Ukrainian agricultural export. After Russia left the grain transaction, the main port of Ukraine - Odessa - turned out to be closed for the passage of cargo ships, and the grain export of the republic - under threat.

Recall, on July 18, 2023, the so -called The “grain transaction”, according to which Russia since the summer of last year took obligations to unlock the Black Sea ports through which Ukrainian agricultural products are exported. The intermediaries in the transaction were Türkiye and the UN, they guaranteed that the vessels that would go to Ukraine would not transport military goods. In exchange for this, Russia asked to return access to the SWIFT system to the Rosselkhozbank, which provides, among other things, transactions on Russian agricultural export. And also remove restrictions on the supply of spare parts for agricultural machinery and return Russian fertilizers to the world market, including the launch of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia. None of these requirements were met. In June, the ammonium in Ukraine was completely damaged by the explosion.

Commenting on the refusal to extend the transaction, Vladimir Putin said that she brought the country of losses of $ 1.2 billion.

“For Russian agricultural producers <...> it turned into direct losses and losses,” Putin said on July 19 at a meeting with government members.

According to him, this was associated with a “30-40% discount on Russian grain in world markets”, as well as an increase in the cost of freight for the transportation of Russian exports and financial services for market participants. According to Putin, it was the grain transaction, and not the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the followed by Western sanctions, which led to a decrease in the profitability of Russian grain export.

Having left the transaction, Russia announced a number of naval regions in the northwestern and southeastern parts of the Black Sea International Water temporarily dangerous for shipping.

“The flag countries of such courts will be considered involved in the Ukrainian conflict on the side of the Kyiv regime”,

- The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation said unequivocally. In response, Kyiv warned that it would consider ships moving towards Russian Black Sea ports, as transporting military cargoes.

“Openly threatening civilian vessels transporting food from Ukrainian ports, carrying out missile shelling and attacks by drones on civilian infrastructure in peaceful cities, intentionally creating a military threat on trading routes, the Kremlin turned the Black Sea into a zone of danger, primarily for Russian vessels and vessels following the Black Sea in the direction of the Russian Sea ports and Ukrainian Marines Ports located on the territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia, ”the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine said.

This statement forced Russia to back down. On July 21, the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergei Vershinin, explained that the Russian sides intend to only make requests for goods that are transporting ships in the Black Sea, and, if necessary, inspect them.

After such an exchange, threats, the emergence of foreign dry cargo loads in the waters that the Russian Ministry of Defense promised to block for Ukrainian exports, caused an ambiguous reaction of Moscow.

On Tuesday, on August 1, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported the destruction of three Ukrainian sulfate boats in the international waters, which, supposedly, intended to attack Russian civilian vessels. In Ukraine, these accusations were categorically rejected. Advisor to the head of the office of the President of Ukraine Mikhail Podolyak said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not intend to attack civilian facilities in the Black Sea.

“Of course, such statements of Russian officials are fiction and do not contain a drop of truth. Ukraine did not attack, does not attack and will not attack civilian courts, as well as any other civilian objects, ” Reuters quoted the official.

In Russia, only ultra-patriotic unofficial resources react to the appearance of dry cargo loads in “blocked ports”. Military analyst Mikhail Zvinchuk in his telegram channel "Rybar" called this "Russian testing to reaction."

“If the court decides to go to the Danube, firstly, will demonstrate that the port infrastructure of Ukraine is still functioning. Although, taking into account the attack on patrol ships, drones from the mouth of the Danube, this is rather a fact. And, secondly, such a scenario will create a precedent for other countries, whose dry cargo loads and containers are stuck off the coast of Romania and Ukraine, which can not be considered warnings of the Russian authorities, ”the fisherman writes.

We are talking about attacks by military drones on Russian military vessels, the fact of which is confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense. So, on July 25, a week after Russia exits the grain transaction and the announcement of the military blockade, the Sergey Kotov patrol ship was attacked by sea drones. Also, according to unofficial data, in May and June, the Ukrainian surface drones were attacked by two intelligence ships - the “Priazovye” and “Ivan Hurs”.

It is noteworthy that on the eve of July 31, Ukraine agreed with Croatia to use its ports for the export of Ukrainian grain. This was stated by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba. “We agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and in the Adriatic Sea to transport Ukrainian grain. Now we will work to lay as effective routes as possible to these ports and take this opportunity as much as possible, ”Kuleba explained.

In Ukraine, it is noted that this will significantly reduce the dependence of its grain export on the blocked ports of Odessa, where Russian troops also destroyed a huge part of the port infrastructure. While the military exacerbation in the Black Sea threatens the next hanging of the cost of freight and insurance for Russian grain and, as a result, with new losses for Russian agricultural producers.