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Ukraine warns that Russian attacks on Odesa port threaten export collapse

UAC, Ukraine's biggest farmers' union, said that Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Black Sea ports had already caused "serious" damage to the export terminals and threatened a significant?reduction in shipments. This includes key agricultural exports.

The hub of Odesa is the main port for exports of Ukraine, including iron ore.

In recent months, Russia increased its attacks on port infrastructure. It has targeted?grain termini as well as storage and export facilities for sunflower oil. Ukraine's agricultural products are dominated by grain?and vegetable oils.

"The situation in ports around Odesa has reached a critical level." UAC stated that systematic Russian shelling was destroying Ukraine's logistics heart.

The businesses have spent all their financial resources on repairs. The union said that without a?framework program and foreign funds to support it, it was impossible for terminals to be restored on their own.

The union has not specified how much money is required to restore terminals.

According to World Bank estimates the total recovery costs for Ukraine's transport sector are estimated at $96.3 billion by the end of 2025. Around 60% of the losses in transport are due to the disruption of access to ports.

At the ports are dozens of terminals for grain and oilseeds, some of which are owned by major foreign companies.

UAC noted that if terminals are unable to recover quickly from a failure, exports could collapse, storage areas would overflow and farmers might lack the capital required for the next planting campaigns.

This poses a serious threat to the food security of Ukraine as well as the rest of world.

Official data revealed that Ukraine is a major global grain exporter. It has exported more than 34 million metric tonnes of various grains in 2025/26. In the same period of 2024/25, Ukraine exported 38.6 millions tons of grain. (Reporting and editing by Tomaszjanowski)

(source: Reuters)