Ukraine's grain deliveries to its Black Sea ports for export have risen by two per cent so far in February compared with January, but volumes remain below February 2025 levels, state railway Ukrzaliznytsia said on Thursday. The railway said in a report it had delivered about two million tonnes of grain so far this month, down 1.4 per cent from a year earlier.
"This year we face challenges - attacks on (railway) infrastructure and power substations, which did not happen last year," the company said.
A transport industry source, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter, told Reuters this month that strikes on the Odesa port hub in recent months had reduced its export capacity by up to 30 per cent from pre-war levels.
The southern Odesa region - home to a major shipping hub with terminals at the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk, and Pivdennyi - has been targeted since the early days of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022.
Attacks on port infrastructure, which have driven up logistics and freight costs, have hit local businesses by forcing them to cut prices to stay competitive on global markets.
Constant power outages caused by Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy sector have worsened the situation, in some cases making production unprofitable. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Thursday that Russia had hit Ukraine's energy infrastructure with a barrage of drones and missiles overnight.
(Reporting by Pavel Polityuk. Editing by Mark Potter)
