About 140 ships were awaiting Russian permission to pass through the Kerch Strait as of Friday morning,

About 140 ships were awaiting Russian permission to pass through the Kerch Strait as of Friday morning, Ukraine’s border service reports. Delays cost $10-50,000 a day per ship, Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan told French Minister of Transport Elisabeth Borne at a meeting in Paris. Noting that 20% of the ships have EU owners, he said: “As a result, European taxpayers have to pay extra for Russia deciding to ignore the norms of international law.” Calling for concrete EU/US support to restore freedom of the seas, he warned: “If the Russians get away with the situation in the Kerch Strait, next year they will do the same in the Black and the Baltic Seas.”