MOSCOW, July 31. /TASS/. Ukrainian ports handling military cargoes to the Ukrainian armed forces are legitimate targets for the Russian military, Dmitry Belik, a member of the Russian State Duma (lower house of parliament) Committee on International Affairs, told TASS.

"The Kiev regime is using Ukrainian ports to deliver military supplies to the armed forces, making them legitimate targets," the parliamentarian said.

Earlier, Denis Marchuk, deputy head of the All-Ukrainian Agrarian Council, reported that purchasing prices for Ukrainian grain had fallen by more than 30% due to the downtime of the Greater Odessa ports (Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny), through which most of Ukrainian agricultural products were sold. According to RBC-Ukraine, the downtime of the so-called Greater Odessa ports, through which the bulk of Ukrainian agricultural exports were shipped, occurred during the peak of the harvest season.

According to Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Taras Vysotsky, as of July 22, foreign cargo ships suspended calls to Ukrainian ports by the decision of carriers. International companies are refusing to work with them for security reasons and are redirecting cargo shipments, in particular, to the Romanian port of Constanta. According to vessel traffic data at the ports of the Greater Odessa, which TASS has obtained, there are currently no foreign cargo ships at the ports, and no bulk carriers or container vessels are planning to call at these ports in the near future. Some vessel activity is observed only in the direction of the Danube ports of Izmail and Reni, however, their cargo handling capacity is significantly lower than that of the Greater Odessa ports.

The Russian Defense Ministry regularly reports strikes on Ukrainian ports used for delivering military supplies to the Ukrainian armed forces, as well as on ships carrying cargoes for the Ukrainian army in the Black Sea.