Constanța, Sept. 26, (dpa/GNA) – Ukrainian grain transporters, fearing Russian airstrikes, have for weeks been sheltering their ships at night on the Romanian bank of the Chilia arm of the Danube river, which forms the border with Ukraine.
Diplomats from the European Union and United States negotiated this protective measure with Romanian and Ukrainian authorities in August, Florian Vizan, director of the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanța, told dpa. He had been present at these talks.
The threat of attacks had often interrupted the transfer of grain from one ship to another on the Ukrainian side, he said.
“The Ukrainians then bring their ships temporarily to the Romanian side as a precaution,” Vizan said. That is why grain exports were currently taking so long, he added.
A large part of Ukraine’s grain exports are going through Constanța because Russian attacks have put Ukraine’s Black Sea ports off limits.
GNA