Ukraine and the US will strengthen the grain initiative.

US Ambassador Bridget Brink and US Special Representative for Sanctions Policy James O’Brien visited the Odesa and Pivdenny Ukrainian ports. They met with the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, who emphasized the need to include Mykolaiv’s ports in the grain initiative to quicken the inspection of vessels in the Bosphorus and to extend the agreements for at least one year. Kubrakov drew attention to the fact that currently, 77 vessels are waiting in line for inspection in Turkey, and the ports of Greater Odessa are only operating at up to 50% of their capacity. One day of downtime costs at least $30,000. Now ships are waiting for inspection for two to five weeks, the minister said. He thanked the American partners for their willingness to promote the strengthening of the grain initiative on international platforms. Ukraine has already officially appealed to the UN and Turkey with the proposal to include the Mykolaiv port in the agreement.