The European Commission will provide 50 million euros ($55 million) in EU funds for repairs and upgrades of Ukraine's port infrastructure damaged in Russian attacks, the Commission's President Ursula von der Leyen said on Nov. 25.
"Over time, our investment should allow Ukraine's ports to return to export quantities that were in place before the war," the EU's top-ranking official said.
The head of the EU's executive arm highlighted Kyiv's role in alleviating global food insecurity, particularly through the "Grain from Ukraine" initiative supplying grain to Africa and the Middle East.
She also commended Ukraine for opening the humanitarian Black Sea corridor after Russia withdrew from the grain deal in July and began threatening free shipping in the Black Sea.
"Even as Ukraine continues to suffer From Russia's illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked aggression, the brave people of your country have continued to supply agricultural produce to the world," von der Leyen wrote in a letter addressed to President Volodymyr Zelensky on the occasion of the International Summit on Food Security in Kyiv.
The so-called solidarity lanes, EU-instituted transit routes for Ukrainian food products, remain an essential lifeline for Ukraine's grain, von der Leyen noted.
Between March 2022 and November 2023, over 60 million tonnes of grain, oilseeds, and related products have left Ukraine through the solidarity lanes.
