Russia illegally exports 150,000-170,000 tonnes of grain from Ukraine per month

Russian occupiers have already taken up to 500,000 tonnes of grain crops from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, while before the start of a full-scale invasion, there were about 1.5 million tonnes of grain in the occupied regions.

According to various sources, the invaders on average export 150,000-170,000 tonnes of grain from the country, such figures were announced by Ukraine’s Ambassador to Turkey Vasyl Bodnar in an interview with the Glavcom edition.

The ambassador also explained the information about a 25% discount on the purchase of Ukrainian grain by Turkey, about which Turkish Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Vahit Kirişci told the local publication Yeni Safak in early June. According to Bodnar, this discount is not a payment for mediation, but a legal mechanism for buying grain from the territory of Ukraine to foreign markets.

“This is a completely different story that has nothing to do with mediation. It is about a legal mechanism for buying grain from the territory of Ukraine to foreign markets. The discount was discussed earlier, so that the Turkish side could export this grain using the available mechanisms,” the ambassador explained.

He noted that if the Turkish side provided its ships for the export of grain from the ports on the Danube, this logistics would be much cheaper than the existing export routes through the western border with Poland, which costs almost 40% of the price of grain.

“We voiced this proposal to the Turkish side one and a half to two months ago, that is, before the negotiations to unblock our ports. Here the question is not only for the Turkish government, but also for traders, at what price they will sell grain to the markets, because it is constantly getting cheaper. The closer the new harvest, the lower the price for the old one. Since we have a large volume, it needs to be sold quickly,” the ambassador emphasized.