In an interview with RIA Novosti, Kherson Region Governor Vladimir Saldo said that Ukraine no longer has access to the Black Sea through the Dnipro-Buh estuary, since Russian military forces are blocking ship passage there.
Saldo noted that shipping in the Black Sea basin, including the Dnipro, is currently effectively halted.
The Dnipro-Buh estuary is located in the northern part of the Black Sea, within Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. It provides access to the Black Sea from ports on the shores of the Southern Buh and Dnipro.
The Financial Times previously reported that Ukraine had begun experiencing problems with grain exports through the Black Sea. According to the publication, this was caused by strikes by the Russian Armed Forces on military targets in areas of Black Sea ports involved in delivering cargo for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As the Ministry of Defense reported, Russian armed forces are attacking port infrastructure and vessels involved in supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukraine's Minister of Agrarian Policy, Taras Vysotsky, acknowledged in late July that ships had stopped entering Ukrainian ports, and that a transport collapse had occurred on the Polish-Ukrainian border as a result.