Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Iurii Vaskov noted that Mykolaiv port is an important transport hub, before the full-scale war, it ensured the export of about 25% of agricultural products. He said this in a comment to the Radio Liberty project "Novyny of Priazovya".

"This is a very important agricultural transport hub, without which it will also be quite difficult to ensure the rhythmic shipment of agricultural products. Therefore, responding to this demand of the agrarian market, we are considering the possibility of initiating before the UN and Turkey the joining of Mykolaiv to this initiative. In our opinion, this is possible no less than a month after the corridor from the ports of Odesa region will be systematically operational, and of course it directly depends on the military situation in the region," - said Vaskov.

He reminded that from February 24, 2022, 80% of export and import capacity for transportation by sea in Ukraine will not work due to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by russia.

The government says: last year's supplies should be exported to free up warehouses for this year's harvest of grain.

On July 22, representatives of Ukraine and russia signed separate mirror agreements with the UN and Turkey, which are aimed at unblocking grain exports from Ukraine against the background of the global food crisis caused by russia's full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territory. However, the following day, July 23, russia attacked Odesa sea trading port with Kalibr cruise missiles.

The first ship with Ukrainian food left Odesa port on August 1. It is about the vessel RAZONI, which under the flag of Sierra Leone headed to the port of Tripoli in Lebanon. It will move along a corridor whose safety has been confirmed by the guarantors - the UN and Turkey. 26 000 tons of Ukrainian corn are on board the vessel. The government says that 16 more ships are waiting for their turn in the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi. These are the vessels that have been blocked since the beginning of russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Reference source: https://bit.ly/3bsi7xt