Croatia to help export Ukrainian grain through its ports

Ukraine and Croatia have agreed to export Ukrainian grain after it was hampered by Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain deal.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced this.

The agreement was reached during the visit of Croatian Foreign Minister Gordan Grlic-Radman.

The heads of the two foreign ministries held talks on military support, assistance in grain exports, and the implementation of the Ukrainian “peace formula”.

“We agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea to transport Ukrainian grain. Now we will work to build the most efficient routes to these ports and make the most of this opportunity. Every contribution to unblocking exports, every open door, is a real, effective contribution to the world’s food security. I am grateful to Croatia for its constructive assistance”.

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukrainian Foreign Minister

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also thanked the Croatian government and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković personally for supporting Ukraine on its path to the EU and NATO. Mr Kuleba also welcomed the recent decision of the Croatian parliament to recognise the Holodomor of 1932-1933 as genocide of the Ukrainian people.

Croatia donates €1 million to demine Ukrainian farmland

In addition, the Croatian government has donated €1 million to the UN World Food Programme to demine Ukrainian farmland. This will help farmers and food producers resume work in the regions most affected by mines during Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine.

The project will also expand support for farmers in soil rehabilitation and resumption of agricultural production once the land is declared safe.

Farmland demining is already underway in the Kharkiv region. They are planned to be expanded to Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

Impact of Russia’s termination of the Grain deal

On July 17, Russia announced the suspension of the Grain deal and threatened “risks” to the parties that continue to transport Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea without Russian participation.

Moreover, Moscow launched massive missile strikes on the port infrastructure of Odesa and the Danube ports.

The US has previously said that grain from Ukraine is likely to be exported by land, adding that “we’ve done this before, including before the grain deal.”

The agreement was signed in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 22, 2022. It allowed Ukraine to ship more than 33 million tons of grain by sea.

The Kremlin’s decision was condemned in Europe. As a result, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia’s war against Ukraine harms millions of vulnerable people worldwide.

The head of EU diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that Russia, by terminating the grain deal, further exacerbates the global food security crisis.