Without the Black Sea ports, Ukraine is nowhere close to reaching the level of exports it urgently needs, said Kate Newton, Deputy Emergency Coordinator for the World Food Program (WFP Ukraine).
“The opening of the Black Sea ports is the most important way to return Ukraine to its former positions. Without the Black Sea ports, we cannot even reach the level of exports that Ukraine urgently needs. However, we are doing our best – by road, rail and now by river – to get closer to the maximum result. At the moment it is about 1 million tons per month, we may reach 2 million. But we urgently need access to the Black Sea in Ukraine,” Newton said at a briefing at the Ukraine media center in Kyiv on Thursday.
She recalled that before the war, Ukraine exported up to 6 million tons of grain every month. According to her, in 2021, about 400 million people around the world used Ukrainian products.
“We need to try to free up storage facilities across Ukraine, ensure that wheat, barley, sunflowers and everything that grows in Ukraine can be harvested and have the ability to be exported,” Newton said.
