MOSCOW, August 7. /TASS/. The Ukrainian Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food has turned to the European Commission with a request for 220 million euros in non-repayable aid to cover interest on loans for small and medium-sized farmers as the country’s ports are now closed for exports.

"Thousands of Ukrainian farmers are unable to sell the produce they have already grown and to get funds to continue their work. That is why we have appealed to the European Commission with a proposal to support Ukrainian producers by compensating for the interest on loans. This will allow farmers to maintain liquidity, carry out the autumn sowing campaign, and avoid having to sell their products at reduced prices," the ministry quotes minister Taras Vysotsky as saying on its Facebook page (banned in Russia; it belongs to Meta, a corporation recognized as extremist in Russia).

Agricultural products exports in the 2026-2027 marketing year may decrease from 64.4 million tons to 29.6 million tons because of the prolonged blockage of ports, the ministry notes. Furthermore, as early as October, storages may be full to overflowing, and more than 9 million tons of grain and oilseed risk being left without the necessary storage.

Since July 22, the ports of Greater Odessa – Odessa, Chornomorsk, and Yuzhny – which handle the bulk of Ukrainian grain and metals exports, have not received or sent a single foreign cargo vessel. The downtime of the Black Sea ports coincided with the peak of the harvest campaign. Ukrainian agricultural producers, despite the significant cost of alternative routes, are forced to export their products through the Danube ports of Izmail, Reni, and Ust-Dunaisk, the Romanian port of Constanta, as well as via roads and railways to the country’s western border. A collapse has already begun at the Ukrainian land checkpoints.