Ukraine to shift Black Sea grain shipping corridor from international to Romanian, Bulgarian waters

Ukraine is set to establish a temporary shipping route through Romania's and Bulgaria's territorial waters to maintain grain shipments in the Black Sea after Russia scrapped an agreement allowing Ukrainian exports through an UN-backed safe maritime corridor, Kyiv said in an official letter dated July 19 and sent to the UN shipping agency, Reuters reported quoted by G4media.ro. Romanian authorities have not commented yet.

In the letter dated July 19, sent to the International Shipping Organization, Ukraine says it has "decided to temporarily establish a recommended sea route."

"Its purpose is to facilitate the unblocking of international shipping in the northwestern part of the Black Sea," Vasyl Shkurakov, Ukraine's acting minister of communities, territories and infrastructure development, said in the letter.

For his part, Ukraine's ambassador to Ankara, Vasyl Bodnar, told Ukrainian public television Suspilne on July 19 that after Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, Ukraine is considering the possibility of a "grain corridor" through the territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria.

(Photo source: Denys Kovtun/Dreamstime.com)