Russia, the world’s largest wheat exporter, was a staunch supporter of Bashar al-Assad and supplied wheat to Syria through complex financial and logistical arrangements, circumventing Western sanctions imposed on both Syria and Russia.

A Russian source close to the government told Reuters supplies to Syria have been suspended because exporters are concerned by uncertainty over who will manage wheat imports on the Syrian side following the change of power in Damascus.

“I think no one would dare supply wheat to Syria under the current circumstances,” the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation, told Reuters.

Shipping data shows one vessel, the Mikhail Nenashev, is anchored off the Syrian coast, while another, the Alpha Hermes, is heading towards the Egyptian port of Alexandria after remaining off the Syrian coast for several days.

The Syrian General Establishment for Cereals Processing and Trade (Hoboob) used to conduct wheat purchasing tenders but has increasingly relied on a network of international intermediaries to maintain Russian supplies despite sanctions.

Rebel leader Ahmad al-Sharaa’s Islamist group, which ousted al-Assad in a swift campaign in Damascus last week, is asserting its authority over Syria’s state by deploying police and installing interim officials.

However, they have yet to establish a new administration in Hoboob or create another commodity importing agency, according to Syrian sources, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Russian and interim government in contact

A Syrian source told Reuters that vessels were delayed because of uncertainty over payments and that Russia and the interim government were in communication regarding the issue. A Russian industry source said Russian exporters were in contact with the Syrian side.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said on Friday that Russia has made direct contact with the political committee of Syria’s Islamist rebel group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, aiming to maintain its military bases in Syria. He did not comment on the wheat trade.

Given there was no payment from the Syrian side for the delivered wheat, a Russian industry source said the cargo of about 60,000 metric tons loaded on the two vessels might be sold to another buyer.

The two vessels can carry a combined 33,000 tons of wheat. However, part of the Russian grain trade with Syria is conducted using sanctioned Syrian vessels that are not visible on tracking systems.

Eduard Zernin, head of the Russian Grain Producers and Exporters Union, told Reuters this week that Russian grain exporters did not plan to unilaterally stop supplying wheat to Syria.

Zernin estimated Syria’s imports at about 2 million metric tons of wheat per year, and said Syria was not a major consumer. A disruption in Russian wheat supplies, however, could cause hunger in the country of over 23 million people.

Dmitry Rylko from IKAR consultancy estimated wheat exports to Syria at 300,000 tons so far this season, with the country ranking 24th among Russian wheat buyers. Syrian imports vary from year to year depending on its own harvest.

Syria could produce up to 4 million tonnes of wheat in a good year, which would be enough for domestic needs and allows for some exports.

However, war and successive droughts have eroded its crop, forcing the country to rely on imports from the Black Sea region to sustain a bread subsidy program essential for its population.

— Additional reporting by Maha El Dahan in Dubai and Gleb Bryanski in Moscow

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Ukraine is a major global wheat and corn grower and before Russia’s invasion in 2022 the country exported about 6 million tons of grain alone per month via the Black Sea.

Grain sales are a crucial revenue source and while global prices are weak, Ukraine’s cash-strapped farmers have little choice but to push ahead with exports because they need to fund the next winter sowing season.

Ukraine doubled food exports in July to over 4.2 million metric tons from the same month last year, according to data from Ukraine’s UGA traders’ union, despite intensified Russian attacks on Odesa, a key Black Sea export hub, and Izmail, a major port along the Danube River taking grain into Europe.

Ukraine has not yet reported the destinations of its exports in July, but last season it exported most of its wheat to Spain, Egypt and Indonesia, with its corn mostly heading for Spain and China.

The surge comes despite this season’s drop in output caused by war-related disruptions, and there is no guarantee that Kyiv can sustain the trend into the full 2024/25 season.

“We are doing everything to make business feel comfortable even in wartime conditions,” Dmytro Barinov, deputy head of Ukraine’s Seaport Authority, told Reuters.

The exports are a combination of new season wheat plus corn from stocks following last year’s bumper harvest.

So far, Ukraine has exported 3.7 million tons of agricultural goods in July through Odesa and 569,000 tons via the Danube, export data showed. That compared with 291,000 tons via Odesa and 2.07 million tons through the Danube in July 2023.

There were six shipments of corn from Ukraine’s other two operational Black Sea ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi in June and July to Rotterdam, Europe’s busiest port, and Spain’s Cartegna, separate LSEG shipping data showed.

Since July, Ukraine has also shipped cargoes to China, Egypt and Turkey, separate data from Kpler showed.

Despite last month’s stronger sales, overall exports for the 2024/25 season are expected to fall because of unfavourable weather and the war’s impact, the ASAP agricultural consultancy said.

“We expect that grain exports from Ukraine could plunge by 14.5 million tons per year and touch almost a decade low of 35 million tons,” ASAP said.

Ports targeted

Ukraine has managed to create a shipping corridor after a U.N.-backed Black Sea grain export initiative collapsed last year. Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to move nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations.

While the improved security situation has lowered insurance and freight rates, making exports more competitive, Kyiv’s challenge is to ensure its ports that are accessible can ship out cargoes.

Ukraine has sustained multiple missile and drone attacks in recent weeks, some of which have targeted Odesa and Izmail.

Even as ships have so far avoided any major damage, Ukrainian officials say port infrastructure is being targeted.

“The Russians are well aware of that and they’re hitting the weak spots,” said Barinov with Ukraine’s Seaport Authority.

“They’re hitting with precision missiles, they’re deliberately destroying our ability to export, to process.”

Barinov and other shipping officials said Russia was avoiding strikes at the international sea lanes outside of Ukrainian port limits, keeping escalation contained.

Ukraine’s military assists ships entering and exiting ports, with captains operating under specific safety instructions, the country’s navy chief Vice-Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa told Reuters.

“Ukrainian air defence forces cover these corridors and ports. All assets, from air defence groups to missile systems along the coast, contribute to this effort,” Neizhpapa said.

Nonetheless, Ukraine has to cope with a multitude of other difficulties, including energy blackouts that disrupt port operations and exports.

Munro Anderson, head of operations at marine war risk and insurance specialist Vessel Protect, part of Pen Underwriting, said Russian strikes at targets inside Ukraine while less frequent than earlier in the war, continued to pressure Kyiv.

“Such attacks persist in applying pressure on the commercial maritime environment in Ukraine and thus achieve the Russian intent of eroding Ukrainian ability to fully capitalise on the potential output from these ports.”

Additional war risk premiums for ships entering Ukrainian ports have been quoted in recent months at up to 1.2 per cent of the value of the ship with discounts that could mean a lower rate, insurance sources said. Those premiums spiked to as much as 3 per cent in November after a missile strike damaged a ship in Pivdennyi.

This still works out at hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional estimated costs for a seven-day voyage and those costs could increase if security conditions deteriorated.

Industry sources said war underwriters were keeping the situation under review in the light of the recent attacks.

“Increased shelling of ships in corridor ports may prompt reinsurers to revise their war risks insurance rates,” said Maksym Dubovyi, managing partner with insurance broker Atria.

During its year of operation, Ukraine’s sea corridor has enabled 2,059 ships to deliver 57.7 million tons of cargoes to 46 countries, including 39 million tons of agricultural products, said Neil Roberts, head of marine and aviation at the Lloyd’s Market Association, which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in the Lloyd’s of London insurance market.

“Individual underwriters will decide the rate as appropriate in the light of events and take their own view on the risk.”

– Reporting by Jonathan Saul and Tom Balmforth in London, Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv.

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U.S. and British warplanes, ships and submarines launched dozens of strikes across Yemen overnight, retaliating against Iran-backed Houthi forces for attacks on Red Sea shipping, widening regional conflict stemming from Israel’s war in Gaza.

Most container ships already were avoiding the nearby Suez Canal, a shortcut between Asia and Europe that handles 12 per cent of global trade. Now, U.S. and UK militaries have advised all ships to steer clear of the conflict zone. That stoked fears that rates for oil tankers and bulk carriers that ferry vital commodities could surge, raising the risk of a new round of global inflation.

The benchmark Shanghai Containerized Freight Index was up over 16 per cent week-on-week to 2,206 points on Friday. The index, which measures non-contract “spot” rates for container shipments out of China’s ports, has gained 114 per cent since mid-December.

Rates on the Shanghai-Europe route rose 8.1 per cent to $3,103 per 20-foot container on Friday from a week earlier, while the rate for containers to the unaffected U.S. West Coast soared 43.2 per cent to $3,974 per 40-foot containers week on week, leading ship broker Clarksons said on Friday.

“The longer this crisis goes on, the more disruption it will cause to ocean freight shipping across the globe and costs will continue to rise,” Peter Sand, chief analyst at freight platform Xeneta, said in Friday.

Major players in the ocean shipping industry that handles upwards of 90 per cent of global trade are bracing for months of cost-stoking upheaval.

“Even if from today forward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait was to become safe and secure for transit, we expect it will take a minimum two months before vessels could assume normal rotational patterns,” said Michael Aldwell, executive vice president for sea logistics at Kuehne + Nagel KNIN.S.

Major container ship owners such as MaerskMAERSKb.CO and Hapag-LloydHLAG.DE have switched Suez Canal-bound ships to the longer route around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope. That has sent delays cascading through complex vessel schedules. Rates have at least doubled from a month ago on the most affected routes but remain below the pandemic’s record highs.

On Friday, four oil tankers turned around mid-voyage to avoid the Red Sea and five others either made diversions or paused navigation.

“Tanker rates will increase and futures are up this morning,” said John Kartsonas, managing partner at Breakwave Advisors, who added that dry bulk remains the least affected sector.

Major importers like Tesla, Geely-owned Volvo Car VOLCARb.ST and Ikea already have reported product shortages or warned of late-arriving goods.

Rerouting a ship around Africa adds roughly 10 days and $1 million in fuel costs for each one-way voyage between Asia and Europe.

Carriers are pulling vessels into the most affected European and Mediterranean trade lanes to compensate. That is reducing available vessel space for cargo moving on Transpacific and North-South routes and sending rates higher, Jefferies analyst Omar Nokta said in a note on Friday.

Vessel operators also are rolling out Red Sea-related surcharges and rationing less expensive, contract-rate space – forcing some customers’ shipments into the pricier spot market.

“The price of a vast range of goods threatens to march upwards again,” said Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets, Hargreaves Lansdown.

–Additional reporting for Reuters by Siddharth Cavale.

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The agreement, brokered by Turkey last July, aimed to alleviate a global food crisis by allowing Ukrainian grain blocked by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of its neighbour to be exported safely.

“Due to the collapse of the Black Sea corridor deal, most shipowners will now refrain from calling Ukrainian ports,” said Christian Vinther Christensen, chief operating officer with Danish shipping group NORDEN.

The last ship left Ukraine under the deal on Sunday.

Insurance has been vital to ensure shipments through the corridor and industry sources said Russia’s decision was being evaluated in terms of whether cover in some form could continue.

“Some underwriters will look to take advantage with a hefty increase in rates. Others will stop offering cover. The (key) question is whether Russia mines the area which would effectively cease any form of cover being offered,” one insurance industry source said.

The Lloyd’s of London insurance market has already placed the Black Sea region on its high risk list.

“Annual cover remains in place but voyages to listed areas will be assessed individually as and when seen,” said Neil Roberts, head of marine and aviation at Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA), which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in Lloyd’s.

Additional war risk insurance premiums, which are charged when entering the Black Sea area, need to be renewed every seven days. They already cost thousands of dollars and are expected to go up, while shipowners could prove reluctant to allow their vessels to enter a war zone without Russia’s agreement.

“I don’t believe there are many enquiries at the moment as getting an owner to operate on past charter terms without an initiative would be difficult,” another industry source said.

“Danger money hire rates would probably be required, aside from the provision for extra insurance costs.”

Moscow’s withdrawal from the deal means “the guarantees for the safety of navigation issued by the Russian side will be revoked,” Russia told the UN shipping agency the International Maritime Organization on Monday in a letter seen by Reuters.

The LMA’s Roberts said the letter “adopts a tone that diverges from previous pronouncements.

“From the insurance angle, quotes for corridor voyages would have expired, so renegotiation of terms should be expected,” he said.

“With the withdrawal of the Russian security guarantees, the risk profile would need to be re-assessed. It may also be the case that some charterers will reconsider their options.”

— Jonathan Saul is a Reuters correspondent in London, England.

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The Black Sea grain deal, which allows the safe passage of grains through three Ukrainian ports, was extended on May 17 for two months — a shorter time than expected.

“The corridor is definitely not performing as it was at the beginning,” Jan Dieleman, president of Cargill’s ocean transportation business, told Reuters.

“It’s more focused on the smaller (ship) sizes now… I do think that with some quite big crops in Brazil, you might also see some of the demand being switched out of the Black Sea into Brazil at some point, on corn, for instance.”

Record production of both corn and soybeans in Brazil in the current 2022-23 season has led to strong demand for vessels in South America.

Dieleman said if the Black Sea grain corridor deal ended, the price impact would be less “simply because it is a smaller (export) program already.”

“The grain market is not the same as it was a year ago.”

Dieleman added that the Black Sea area was “still a war zone and ships are being attacked and it’s not business as usual.”

This week, President Vladimir Putin said Russia was considering withdrawing from the deal, which was also brokered by Turkey. He alleged the West had cheated Moscow by not delivering on promises to get Russian farm goods to world markets.

The appetite of western companies to ship Russian grains out of the Black Sea was expected to weaken going forward.

In March Cargill said it would no longer handle Russian grain exports from July, although the shipping unit has said it will continue to carry grain from the country’s ports.

Other leading traders, including Louis Dreyfus and Viterra, have also joined the Russian grain export exodus in recent months.

“It has become more complicated for us,” Dieleman said. “Our activity is clearly less.”

Cargill is one of the world’s biggest charterers of dry bulk ships.

Dieleman said shipping activity from Russia was being replaced by a shadow fleet of ships that were not chartered in the same way as in international markets.

“We see more of the grey/black fleet moving more stuff as well. That is taking a bigger share of the exports at the moment,” he said.

“There is still a bit of self-sanctioning going on in this market, and people don’t want to get involved unless they have to.”

— Jonathan Saul is a Reuters correspondent in London, England.

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The deal allowing the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain from its Black Sea ports, initially brokered last July by Turkey and the UN, was renewed on Saturday for just half the intended period.

Insurance for ships going into the three Ukrainian ports covered by the agreement has been vital, and the war-cover policies need to be renewed every seven days.

“There is clearly underlying risk that if events change and somebody wanted to sink a ship to make a point, that clearly our appetite for continuing with those kind of risks might change,” Lloyd’s markets chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown told Reuters.

The shorter renewal term has raised concerns over forward shipments beyond the 60-day period.

The U.S. has pushed back on Russian demands that Western sanctions be eased before Russia allows Ukrainian Black Sea grain exports beyond mid-May, saying there were no restrictions on Russian agricultural products or fertilizer.

Carnegie-Brown said that at the moment, “Ships and cargoes come together at pretty short notice.”

“I would have thought that anything less than 30 days notice of the extension becomes a bit problematic,” he said after Lloyd’s 2022 results were published on Thursday.

There are up to 60 commercial ships still stuck in Ukraine, a year after the start of the war with Russia, with insurers facing at least half a billion dollars of claims.

Ship owners can claim a total loss for vessels stuck for a year from their insurers.

When asked about the claims, Carnegie-Brown said, “That number, whatever it is, will begin to crystallize.”

The UN shipping agency, the International Maritime Organization (IMO), said the stranded ships remained a concern.

“I will continue to actively pursue all avenues to develop, negotiate and facilitate the safe departure of vessels not covered by the Black Sea grain initiative,” IMO secretary-general Kitack Lim said separately on Thursday.

— Jonathan Saul is a Reuters correspondent in London, England.

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Reinsurers, who insure the insurers, typically renew their 12-month contracts with insurance clients on Jan. 1, giving them the first opportunity to scale back exposure since the war in Ukraine started, after being hit this year by losses related to the conflict and from Hurricane Ian in Florida.

P+I (protection and indemnity) clubs American, North, UK and West are no longer able to offer war risk cover for some liabilities in the region from Jan. 1, they said in recent notices on their websites. The clubs are among the biggest P+I insurers who cover around 90 per cent of the world’s ocean-going ships.

UK P+I Club said on Dec. 23 that the issue had arisen because of a lack of availability of reinsurance for reinsurers, also known as retrocession.

“The Club’s reinsurers are no longer able to secure reinsurance for war risk exposure to Russian, Ukrainian or Belarus territorial risks,” it said.

American P+I said Dec. 23 it had received a “notice of cancellation” for the region from its war risk reinsurers and was cancelling its own insurance as a result.

Ships typically have P+I insurance, which covers third-party liability claims including environmental damage and injury. Separate hull and machinery policies cover vessels against physical damage.

The withdrawal of cover for Ukraine and Russia applies to some but not all types of policy offered by the P+I clubs, three P+I insurance sources said.

“This is being driven by reinsurance,” said Stephen Rebair, deputy global director, underwriting at North, adding that reinsurers were limiting their exposure to the region and “those exclusions have to be passed down the line.”

The exclusions will make it harder for charterers to find insurance, increase prices and may mean some ships sail uninsured, industry sources say.

Providers of reinsurance and retrocession include global players Hannover Re, Munich Re and Swiss Re, as well as syndicates in the Lloyd’s of London market. The firms all declined to comment.

Reuters reported earlier this month that a proposed contract clause being circulated by reinsurers excluded war-related claims for both planes and ships in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

The Japanese government has urged insurers to take on additional risks to continue providing marine war insurance for liquefied natural gas (LNG) shippers in Russian waters, a senior official at the industry ministry said this week.

— Reporting for Reuters by Carolyn Cohn and Jonathan Saul in London, England.

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The United Nations and Turkey brokered a deal last month after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine halted grain exports, stoking a global food crisis that the United Nations says has pushed tens of millions more people into hunger.

Since then Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations have been working to hammer out written procedures in the hope that it will assure shipping and insurance companies enough to resume grain and fertilizer shipments from the Ukrainian ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny.

“We very much hope it will increase the traffic under this initiative,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesman Stephane Dujarric after the procedures were agreed.

The initiative has been operating in a trial phase for the past two weeks. Ten ships — stuck in Ukraine since the war started — have departed with corn, soybeans and sunflower oil and meal. Two empty vessels have traveled to Ukraine to collect shipments.

The biggest ship yet, the Ocean Lion, is due to leave the port of Chornomorsk on Tuesday to deliver 64,720 tonnes of corn to South Korea, said the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) on Monday. The JCC in Istanbul oversees the deal and is made up of Turkish, Russian, Ukrainian and U.N. officials.

Commercial operation

Ukraine, along with Russia, is a major global supplier of wheat and other foodstuffs. However, the first ship to depart Ukraine under the U.N. deal last week is now looking for another port to unload after the initial Lebanese buyer refused delivery, citing a more than five-month delay.

The United Nations has stressed that the export deal is a commercial — not humanitarian — operation that will be driven by the market. All ships are required to be inspected to allay Russian concerns they could be smuggling weapons in to Ukraine.

Neil Roberts, head of marine and aviation at Lloyd’s Market Association — which represents the interests of all underwriting businesses in the Lloyd’s of London insurance market — told Reuters that the industry could now “play its part.”

“The successful exit of multiple vessels was beyond the imagining of most people only a few weeks ago and to have come this far is extraordinary,” said Roberts. “To actually achieve the goals of the U.N.’s initiative would be something for historians to reflect on.”

Protection zone

The shipping and insurance industry wanted assurances of a secure journey with no threat of sea mines or attacks to their ships and crews. These are typically covered in standard operating procedures, which is what was agreed on Monday.

“The parties will not undertake any attacks against merchant vessels or other civilian vessels and port facilities engaged in this initiative,” according to the ‘procedures for merchant vessels’ document.

One insurance industry source said the procedures “read as a reassuring set of rules. But will all sides stick to it?”

Under the agreed procedures, the JCC will provide information on the planned movement of ships through the maritime humanitarian corridor, which will be shared with Russia, Ukraine and Turkey’s military to prevent incidents.

Then as the vessel moves through the maritime humanitarian corridor it will be protected by a 10-nautical mile circle buffer zone around it.

“No military vessel, aircraft or UAVs (drones) will close to within 10 nautical miles of a merchant vessel transiting the Maritime Humanitarian Corridor, excluding territorial seas of Ukraine,” according to the document.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said there was “every chance” the pace of exports could be maintained.

“The key is how in the days to come our partners will prove able to prevent any attempts by Russia to disrupt exports and again further provoke a world food crisis,” Zelenskiy said in a video address on Monday.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for stalling shipments by mining its port waters and rejects accusations Moscow is responsible for fueling the food crisis.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jonathan Saul and Michelle Nichols; additional reporting by Ronald Popeski.

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Guidance from the Joint War Committee, which comprises syndicate members from the Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA) and representatives from the London insurance company market, is watched closely and influences underwriters’ considerations over insurance premiums.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, the JWC last month added Ukrainian and Russian waters around the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to its high-risk areas, as well as waters close to Romania and Georgia.

Monday’s extension of the area judged high-risk for merchant ships and prone to war, piracy, terrorism and related perils, will mean that vessels will need to notify underwriters when sailing into ports as well as having to pay an additional premium for a seven-day cover period.

“Rating is a matter for individual negotiation between underwriters and brokers and the JWC plays no role in that,” the JWC said.

Marine insurers said any rise in premiums was expected to take a few days after a notification period.

One marine insurance source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Monday’s advisory was unexpected and would “add to the complexities of trading with Russia.”

Russia relies on its Baltic and Black Sea ports for oil and grains exports, which are significant foreign currency earners. Other terminals, such as Kozmino in Asia, are needed for Russian exports to that region.

A European grains trader said it was already difficult to find vessel owners willing to go to any Russian ports, adding there was no guarantee of being able to insure against the war risks.

“This will add to the problems but not bring a total stop,” the trader said.

Russia’s maritime sector is grappling with the winding down of services including ship certification by leading foreign providers — needed for accessing ports and securing insurance.

In addition, some shipping companies have withdrawn and ship engine makers have suspended training on their equipment following the imposition of Western sanctions on Moscow.

— Reporting for Reuters by Jonathan Saul; additional reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg.

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Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, calling its actions a “special operation.”

“The ports will be shut until the end of Russian aggression on our territory and (we) restore the ability to provide maritime security for commercial vessels,” Vitaliy Kindrativ told Reuters in emailed comments.

Kindrativ said the authorities were still assessing the extent of damage in Mariupol, a prominent port located on the Sea of Azov, adding that other ports had also seen some damage, which was “not critical.”

“But I think that final calculation will be done after the end of Russian aggression as there is still a great threat of landing of Russian troops through ports, which may cause great destruction of port infrastructure,” he said.

Many shipping companies have suspended sailings to affected Black Sea ports with insurance premiums for voyages soaring in recent days and at least three commercial ships hit by bombs since Feb. 24.

Prospects for Russian and Ukrainian spring grain, which is supposed to start soon, could also be affected by the conflict.

Navigation in the Azov Sea was stopped on Feb. 24, and while Russian Black Sea terminals continue to load and ship grain, a big question mark looms over new shipments due to a lack of freight offers, consultancy Sovecon said.

Kindrativ added that there were about 100 foreign flagged ships now “blocked in Ukrainian seaports by the Russian navy.”

“They will be able to sail after the Russian navy removes its warships from our sovereign water, sea routes will be safe for navigation, and when the ship masters get clearance from Ukrainian seaport captains,” he said.

The port of Berdiansk located on the Sea of Azov was also hit by shelling on Monday, but it was unclear what was happening at the port.

— Jonathan Saul is a Reuters correspondent in London, England; additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk in Ukraine.

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