The Ukrainian Agri Council (UAC), which brings together more than 1,400 small and medium-sized agricultural producers, supports the open letter from port operator owners to the Government and international partners.

Protecting port logistics has been a consistent position of the UAC since the start of the full-scale invasion. Our experts have been sounding the alarm continuously at every level — at government meetings, during closed-door discussions, and on television — making the case that without its sea gateways, Ukraine's agricultural sector will not survive.

Today, the situation in the ports of the Odesa region has reached a critical point. Systematic Russian shelling is destroying the logistical heart of Ukraine. The UAC stresses: port infrastructure is not merely the private property of individual "waterside" companies. It is a strategic bridge connecting millions of hectares of Ukrainian fields with the global market.

The destruction of logistics means idle transport, rising freight and insurance costs, and — most importantly — falling purchase prices for grain paid to Ukrainian farmers. The ports' losses are automatically shifted onto the shoulders of producers, who are already operating on the edge of profitability. If the terminals lose their ability to recover quickly, exports will "crumble," warehouses will overflow, and farmers will have no working capital to carry out the next sowing campaigns. This is a threat to the food security of both Ukraine and the world.

When the enemy was destroying the energy system, the state and international donors united to create rapid assistance mechanisms. Ports are equally critical infrastructure. Businesses have exhausted their own financial reserves for endless repairs under fire. Without a state framework program and support from foreign funds, restoring the terminals on their own is impossible.

The UAC calls on the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, the Ministry of Development of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure, as well as international partners, to heed the voice of port operators and to expand the mechanisms for insuring and compensating war risks.