A cargo carrying over 71,000 tonnes of Ukrainian corn finished loading in the Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta last week Thursday, the first since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, the manager of port operator Comvex told Reuters.
With Ukraine's sea ports blocked since the war started more than two months ago, the world's fourth-largest grain exporter has been forced to send shipments by train via its western border or through its small Danube river ports into Romania.
Around 80,000 tonnes of Ukrainian grains have been sent to Constanta so far, with another 80,000 approved and en route, Constanta Port's manager said.
Last week, Ukraine accused Russia of stealing grain in territory it has occupied, an act which it said increased the threat to global food security posed by disruptions to spring sowing and the blocking of Ukrainian ports during the war.
The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's office said in a separate statement that it had opened a criminal case into allegations that Russian soldiers, threatening violence, had taken away 61 tonnes of wheat from an agricultural enterprise in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine on April 26.
