Ukraine’s trade volume after the seaports are operating freely can reach $20B per year.

According to Metinvest head of project office Oleksandr Vodoviz, there is no alternative to the complete unblocking of Ukraine’s ports for all cargoes, as shipments by road and rail transport through the western crossings are severely limited by their capacity and cost. He clarified that grain is only 40% of what Ukraine supplies for export by sea. Another 40% is metal, and 20% is everything else.

Vodoviz noted that the Russian side withdrew from the initiative a long time ago when it began to slow down the work of the grain corridor, and now their decision has simply been formalized. The grain agreement legitimized Russia’s choice to let out only those ships it wanted, and only in a particular order. It turns out that all Russian ships transport everything they want, but our ships do not, he added.

For Ukraine, the economic impact of all ships operating normally, is somewhere around $20B a year, but for Russia the figure is between $80 to $100B. The entire Azov-Black Sea basin of the Russian Federation carries an economic capacity of $100B.