Russia's Black Sea Attacks Halt Ukrainian Port Traffic

KYIV — Russia’s attacks on civilian cargo ships bound for Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea are strangling Kyiv’s vital export corridor, with no vessels entering any of the three Ukrainian ports in the Odesa region on Wednesday for the first time since the corridor was established in 2023.

“Russia is holding global food security hostage. Today zero vessels passed through Ukraine’s Black Sea maritime corridor — right at peak harvest. This is deliberate economic and humanitarian terror,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said in an evening statement on Wednesday.

“Just as Iran targeted energy routes in the Strait of Hormuz, Russia is now targeting global food markets in the Black Sea. Millions of families across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and Latin America may face rising prices and hunger if this terror continues,” Sybiha added.

The attacks forced shipping giant Maersk to stop operations at the Chornomorsk Fishing Port in the Odesa region this week, redirecting cargo to Romania’s Constanta Port. Ukraine says it would still provide security, but the vessel owners decided to halt traffic due to heightened security threats.

“Previously, there had also been many hits on ships, but most of them concerned ships already docked in ports,” Andrii Klymenko, head of the Black Sea and Baltic Strategic Research Monitoring Group, told POLITICO. Vessel owners have halted operations, wanting to see how the situation unfolds and what new solution Ukraine can find, Klymenko added.

Russia's actions prompted Ukraine to request an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting for July 27, urging all states to immediately demand that Moscow stop its attacks on freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.

The attacks intensified after Ukraine conducted a series of successful strikes against Russian shadow fleet oil tankers in the Azov and Black Seas, forcing Russia to halt exports earlier this month.

But it would be wrong to say that’s a response, because Russia never paused the attacks on Ukraine’s ports and cargo, Klymenko said. “This narrative would only help Russia to force a maritime ceasefire on us, which would benefit only the Kremlin, as it has to sell oil,” the expert added.

Ukraine’s Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said there is a big difference, as while Russia shells vessels operating in a completely legal way, Ukraine targets cargo vessels breaking maritime law by illegally transporting sanctioned oil or entering ports of Ukraine’s occupied territories.

“The war in the sea never stopped. We have already been in a similar situation. Yes, pressure increased, and yes, shipping companies see risks and reduce operations. But we will keep working to restore maximum capacity of our maritime corridor," Pletenchuk added.

Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian ports in 2022 strangled vital agricultural exports and helped drive global food prices more than 60 percent higher by March. But after Ukraine’s navy established a protected maritime corridor in the Black Sea, the country exported more than 168.9 million tons of cargo through it, including over 100 million tons of grain, much of it bound for countries in the Global South, despite repeated Russian attacks on Odesa’s ports.