The head of state made the statement during a joint media briefing with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"Another challenge is agriculture. We understood several months ago what they (Russia – ed.) were going to do. They will do everything to block our grain corridor. You know that yesterday (...) no vessel was able to enter our ports. In other words, they attacked all the vessels. They will step up these efforts. Understanding this, we saw the Russians’ plans a couple of months ago, and that is why we decided that a separate person should be responsible specifically for this area," Zelensky said.

The President added that "logistics, our grain, agriculture, and energy – all of these are extremely important issues."

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grainexport routes

As reported by Ukrinform, in July, Russian forces have been systematically shelling port infrastructure in the Odesa region and civilian vessels. In particular, during a Russian attack on the Odesa region port infrastructure on July 14, a Marshall Islands-flagged vessel was hit, killing two people.