Romania wants to transit 60% of Ukrainian grain.

Bucharest hopes that around 60% of Ukrainian grain exports could transit through Romanian territory following Russia's unilateral termination of the grain deal, the country's Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said[1] on Aug.

18, Reuters reported. Ciolacu pointed out that Romania is working to improve its connecting infrastructure by rail, road, river, and sea, as well as border crossings. The country's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Sorin Grindeanu said[2] on Aug.

11 that Romania plans to increase the transit capacity of Ukrainian grain from 2 million metric tons to 4 million every month. "We agreed that the Ukrainian grain exports must be accelerated in the context of the recent attacks that we are all aware of in recent weeks on the Ukrainian ports of Reni and Izmail," Grindeanu said. Russia's withdrawal[3] from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17 was followed by systematic strikes[4] against Ukrainian ports and grain infrastructure.

This included Ukraine's ports on the Danube River Reni and Izmail, lying only several hundred meters away from Romania's border. As Reuters pointed out, Romania's port of Constanta had emerged as Ukraine's biggest alternative shipping route even before the grain deal collapsed. In the first seven months of 2023, the port facilitated the transit of 8.1 million metric tons of Ukrainian grain, and 8.6 million metric tons in 2022, Reuters said.

Timothy Ash: Solutions need to be found for grain exports

On July 17, 2023, Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. The initiative was originally brokered in August 2022 by Turkey between Russia and Ukraine. It had been successful in facilitating the export of 32.5 million tonnes of grain out of Ukrainian ports, leaving in over 1,

[5] Martin Fornusek

News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent.

He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He also volunteers as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukrainer. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

References

  1. ^ said (www.reuters.com)
  2. ^ said (kyivindependent.com)
  3. ^ withdrawal (kyivindependent.com)
  4. ^ strikes (kyivindependent.com)
  5. ^ Timothy Ash: Solutions need to be found for grain exportsOn July 17, 2023, Russia pulled out of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

    The initiative was originally brokered in August 2022 by Turkey between Russia and Ukraine.

    It had been successful in facilitating the export of 32.5 million tonnes of grain out of Ukrainian ports, leaving in over 1, (kyivindependent.com)

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