Variation #11
By KS Lack
Print: Variated Edition 3/18
Frame: wheat*, twine, razor wire
Ukraine is among the world’s top ten producers and exporters of agricultural products, including wheat. Since 2022, Russia has damaged Ukraine’s production capabilities by bombing infrastructure—such as the Kakhovka Dam—and land-mining arable land.(A,B) Yet Russia has done more than cause billions of dollars in damage to buildings and land; it has also attempted to hold Ukraine’s agricultural output hostage by blockading its ports and restricting access to international waters.
Before the full-scale invasion, 95% of Ukraine’s exports were shipped by sea. For the first six months of 2022, all but one of Ukraine’s ports—the small Danube River port—were blocked. From July 2022 to July 2023, under the Black Sea Grain initiative, Russia permitted Ukraine limited export access via a maritime corridor in the Black Sea; but they reneged on this agreement in July 2023.
In response to the blockade, Ukraine began exporting grain via European land routes. This has, at times, caused friction with Ukraine’s neighbors, who have faced increase commercial traffic and a drop in domestic grain prices due to the influx of Ukrainian goods. Farmers and politicians in Poland and Hungary pushed back against E.U. trading regulations concerning Ukraine, leading to protests throughout 2023.
The situation stabilized in 2024, and not just because Ukraine had diversified its export transport. After regaining control of some of its ports, Ukraine’s merchants altered their shipping routes. Instead of sailing directly through the Black Sea to the Bosporus Strait, they now hug the shoreline, making it more difficult for the Russian fleet to attack while still allowing access to other Black Sea countries. However, this still left the challenge of bypassing Russia’s blockade of the Bosporus Strait.
In a dramatic turn of events, Ukraine has crippled the Russian Black Sea Fleet—even though its own fleet was decimated after Russia’s invasion of Crimea— by using naval drones, commando raids, and other non-conventional tactics.(C,D) As a result, Moscow has been forced to pull what remains of its fleet closer to its coastline and away from the Strait, allowing Ukraine’s merchant fleet to access international waters once again. This is a victory for Ukraine, and proof that Russia is not as all-powerful as Moscow claims.
*) Sheaves of wheat graciously donated by Bernadette Kowalski from the River Garden Flower Farm.
A) For more on the Kakhovka Dam, see Variation #10.
B) For more landmines in Ukraine, see Variation #22.
C) For more on Russia’s invasion of Crimea, see Variation #5.
D) For more on Ukraine’s embrace of drone warfare, see Variation #21.
See below for further reading and background.
Ukraine's Agribusiness in Wartime infographic report released, Latifundist, 24 Jan 23.
Ukrainian grain exports explained, Council of the European Union, 22 Dec 23.
Ukrainian grain: Why are eastern EU members banning imports?, Deutsche Welle, 20 Sep 23.
How Ukraine Overcame Russia’s Grain Blockade, Council on Foreign Relations, 27 Feb 24.