{"id":37156,"date":"2026-09-28T12:11:48","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/?p=37156"},"modified":"2026-09-28T12:11:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T12:11:49","slug":"grain-as-a-weapon-russias-campaign-against-ukrainian-ports-and-civilian-vessels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/?p=37156","title":{"rendered":"Grain as a Weapon: Russia\u2019s Campaign Against Ukrainian Ports and Civilian Vessels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Over the past month, Russia has continued systematic shelling of Ukrainian ports and civilian vessels.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2026 alone, nearly 200 attacks on port infrastructure have been recorded, around 95 strikes on ships in ports, and dozens more in the maritime corridor. Since late July, shipping through the ports of Greater Odesa has effectively stopped due to constant drone and missile attacks. Civilian grain carriers under foreign flags are being targeted \u2014 crew members have been killed, ships damaged, as well as warehouses and berths. Danube ports are also regularly attacked, as happened in Kiliya on 27 September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This is classic <strong>grain terror<\/strong>. Ukraine is one of the key suppliers of wheat, corn and oil to Europe and the world. Blocking the ports sharply reduces exports, drives up freight rates and creates shortages. In peak periods, supplies dropped by tens of percent. Every strike on a vessel is a strike on global food security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For Europe the threat is direct. Less Ukrainian grain means higher prices for bread and animal feed in the EU, extra pressure on farmers and consumers, and the risk of market destabilisation. Russia is using food as a weapon, seeking to weaken Ukraine and create problems for the European economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ukraine\u2019s symmetric response is not escalation.<\/strong> It is a necessary defence of civilian shipping, including European ships and crews who risk their lives transporting grain. Without adequate measures, Russian grain terror will continue to threaten not only Ukraine but the food stability of all of Europe.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past month, Russia has continued systematic shelling of Ukrainian ports and civilian vessels. In 2026 alone, nearly 200 attacks on port infrastructure have been recorded, around 95 strikes on ships in ports, and dozens more in the maritime corridor. Since late July, shipping through the ports of Greater Odesa has effectively stopped due [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37157,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37156","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37156"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37158,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37156\/revisions\/37158"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsreporters.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}