MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. An export crisis is mounting in Ukraine as maritime carriers refuse to work with Ukrainian seaports due to security concerns, Ukraine’s Insider publication reported.

Neither agricultural producers nor metallurgists, whose products form the backbone of Ukrainian exports, are able to ship their goods out of the country now, according to the report. The situation is further aggravated by a sharp rise in diesel prices for trucks, to which a portion of export shipments has shifted. Meanwhile, instead of taking measures to support producers, the Ukrainian authorities have authorized increases in electricity transmission tariffs and rail freight rates.

On July 22, Ukraine’s Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotsky said that the entry of vessels into Ukrainian ports had been suspended by the carriers. The Danish shipping company Maersk has announced the rerouting of cargo shipments to the Romanian port of Constanta. Following a series of explosions in the Odessa region, Ukraine’s national railway operator Ukrzheldoroga began restricting freight shipments to Odessa’s ports, while the Swiss mining company Ferrexpo, whose primary production facilities are located in Ukraine, halted exports via the Black Sea.

Russia’s Defense Ministry regularly reports strikes on Ukrainian ports used to deliver military supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as on vessels carrying cargo for the Ukrainian army in the Black Sea.