By KYIV. Oct 31 (Interfax-Ukraine) – Sailing of 218 vessels participating in the grain initiative is actually blocked due to the lack of permission from the Joint Coordination Centre to pass through the safe corridor and conduct inspections, the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine reported on Saturday.
According to the message of the ministry on Facebook, out of these ships 95 are loaded, they have already left Ukrainian ports and are waiting for inspection to be sent to the final consumer, 101 ships are waiting for inspection of entry to Ukrainian ports, and 22 loaded ships are waiting to leave Ukrainian ports.
"We note that the implementation of the Initiative for the Safe Transportation of Grain and Foodstuffs through Ukrainian ports is of an exclusively humanitarian nature and Ukraine, as a party to the Initiative, has not violated any of its points. The Ukrainian side did not stop the movement of goods through the grain corridor, even despite Russian military attacks on port and energy infrastructure," the ministry said.
The Ministry of Infrastructure also said that 15 cases of Russian UAVs and aircraft approaching at a prohibited distance from civilian ships participating in the Initiative were recorded.
"At the same time, we note that the actual blockade of the grain corridor by the Russian Federation began back in September. This was manifested in an artificial delay and a decrease in the number of inspections, which led to the creation of a queue at 176 ships with 2.1 million foodstuffs on board. Thus, Russia’s intention to provoke mass starvation in the needy countries of Africa and Asia, as well as to create an acute shortage of food throughout the world, becomes obvious.
