During a visit to the Odesa Commercial Sea Port, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis familiarized themselves with the functioning of the "grain corridor" in the Black Sea. UNN reports this with reference to the OP.
Details
The leaders arrived at the port of Odesa, which has been repeatedly attacked by russian missiles and drones.
According to the Commander of the Ukrainian Navy Oleksiy Neizhpapa, since July 2023, the enemy has used more than 880 kamikaze drones and more than 170 missiles against the port infrastructure of Odesa region. Vice Admiral emphasizes that the Ukrainian Defense Forces forced russian ships to leave the northwestern part of the sea
In addition, thanks to the actions of the Air Force, since December 2023, the aggressor has suspended remote mining of approach channels to Ukrainian ports from aircraft.
The President of Ukraine emphasized that the constant restoration of port infrastructure, which is subject to systematic attacks, is a rather difficult task, so it is very important to strengthen its protection.
The number one issue is, of course, air defense, which is needed to protect people and port infrastructure
The Head of State and the Prime Minister of Greece were briefed on the functioning of the "grain corridor" created by Ukraine in August 2023 after russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative on July 17 last year.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Vice Prime Minister for Reconstruction of Ukraine and Minister of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development, said that the new corridor has helped export nearly 28 million tons of grain and other goods to at least 38 countries in seven months. Moreover, in December-February, the volume of goods shipped in the ports of Greater Odesa increased significantly.
It is reported that, for comparison, during the Black Sea Grain Initiative, before russia's withdrawal from it, 32.8 million tons of agricultural and other products were exported from Ukrainian ports in almost a year.
Currently, we have two caravans entering and leaving during the day. For example, today it will be 22 vessels. We had a maximum of 47 vessels, and we started with three to five
Addendum
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he saw the russian attack on Odesa when he and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis were there. At the time of the attack, the head of state and the Greek prime minister were in the port.
Five people were killed in a morning russian attack on Odesa's port infrastructure .