Russian Strike On Izmail Port Further Risks Grain Supplies

Overnight Russian drones hit sites in the port town of Izmail on the Danube river, close to the border with NATO and EU member Romania. Regional Governor Oleh Kiper stated that “Russian terrorists again were attacking ports, grain, global food security. The world has to react. When civilian ports are targets, when terrorists deliberately destroy even silos — this is a threat to everyone on all continents.” Izmail is one of the two ports in the Odesa region alongside Reni that is still able to export grain following the collapse of the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July following Russia's withdrawal.

• The two ports are much smaller than those on the Black Sea such as Odesa, significantly limiting the quantity of grain Ukraine can export. With consistent Russian attacks on all Ukrainian port infrastructure and grain storage facilities, the quantity of grain exported is likely to be limited further.
• NYT: "In May of last year, agricultural exports rose to 800,000 tons from these ports, up from essentially nothing before the war. The next month, they exported 1.3 million tons.[...] They are not deep water ports, so most of the work is carried out by barges, moving 3,000 to 8,000 tons of goods at a time. [...]The Danube ports will never be able to handle more than a fraction of what Ukraine was able to export from its sprawling Black Sea ports. "

Source: NYT