The water area of the cargo port in Odessa. File photoWASHINGTON, May 21. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believes a new U.S. aid package to Ukraine could help open the port of Odesa.
"Ukrainians are trying to go on the offensive. And I think that this weapons package is designed to give them what they need now, not only to win a ground war, but hopefully have some impact on reopening the port of Odessa, because the lack of Ukrainian food will be reflected throughout the Middle East and Africa", the senator told the New York Times.
The US Senate on Thursday approved a bill to provide Ukraine with an unprecedented amount of additional assistance in the amount of about $40 billion. The lower house of Congress approved the bill last week. Now the initiative will go to Biden's signature. Last week, a group of US senators led by McConnell visited Kyiv, where they met with Vladimir Zelensky. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Russia does not interfere with Ukraine's grain exports, logistical problems arose through the fault of Kyiv, its troops mined their seaports. They added that «talks about Russia's allegedly blocking the export of Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea ports and the resulting deficit in the grain market are nothing more than speculation.» .jpg» />May 18, 08:00 american generosity. How Ukraine will pay for US military assistance A former employee of the Odessa sea harbor told RIA Novosti that Ukraine is exporting wheat reserves from storage facilities in the port of Odessa by alternative routes under pressure from the European Union, despite the threat of a grain shortage in the country itself. Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.