Ukraine defies Russia with large exports via Black Sea corridor

Ukraine has exported 13 million tons of products through a shipping corridor in the Black Sea it established after Russia pulled out of a deal guaranteeing safe movement of vessels.

Ports accepted 430 vessels for loading since the channel was created in August, Ukraine's infrastructure minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Saturday.

Kyiv established the corridor to allow the shipping of critical commodities, especially grains, from its deep-sea ports after Moscow in July pulled out the United Nations-backed Black Sea grain deal that had guaranteed safe passage for crops.

The pull-out had confined Ukraine's exports to lengthier river, road and rail routes in the throes of this year's harvests — curbing flows abroad. A third of the country's crop exports were wiped out in a month after Russia's 17 July exit from the deal for ensuring security of Ukraine-produced grain shipments along the Black Sea. The deal was mediated by Turkey and the UN.

Russia's own grain exports benefitted from Ukraine's weakness and in August and was expected to make up nearly a quarter of global wheat trade in the 2023-24 season. But even in wartime, Ukraine remains an irreplaceable grain exporter globally.

Thanks to daring naval attacks on Russian forces targeting Ukraine-bound ships, as well as robust domestic harvest, Kyiv has wrestled the narrative back and helped contain a grain price rebound. 

Bridget Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, called the continued movement of cargo "a significant achievement as Ukraine continues to feed the world."

Ukraine's ability to ship via the Black Sea comes as Russia has moved its Naval fleet there from Crimea to Novorossiysk in response to repeated attacks on vessels – the most recent coming on 26 December.

Supplies of British Storm Shadow and French Scalp cruise missiles have helped Ukraine tip the balance in its favour, Bloomberg reported last week, enabling it to evade air defences to conduct accurate strikes on Russian targets.

Russia's fleet "is no longer able to operate in the western part of the Black Sea," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on 14 October, calling it a "historic achievement" for his country.