Ukraine Warns Food Exports at Risk After Russia Drone Strikes on Ports

By Pavel Polityuk Reuters December 24, 2025

KYIV, Dec 24 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s food exports have already been harmed by intensified Russian attacks on ports this month, which could lead to a significant drop in trade despite efforts to divert shipments to rail, a Ukrainian farmer’s union said on Wednesday.

Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest exporters of wheat and corn, and the number one exporter of sunflower oil. A de facto Russian blockade early in the near four-year-old war worsened a global food shortage.

Most Ukrainian food exports have resumed since 2023. But this month has seen a surge in near daily Russian attacks with drones and missiles on ports in the Odesa region, reducing export capacity.

As a result, the UAC union said some wheat exporters had already defaulted on contracts to deliver shipments this month.

According to UAC estimates, at least one of the three key export ports is either idle or operating at 20% of its capacity.

Logistics routes have also been damaged connecting the rest of Ukraine to Danube River ports, said the union. River ports had helped to compensate for the loss of major seaports since early in the war.

“Russia is attacking our ports, reducing our export potential…. Without deep water and river water, our exports will decline significantly,” UAC said in a weekly report.

“Some large traders are already beginning to sort out quotas at railway terminals, which means that some of our grain may be sent to the border,” it added.

DECLINE IN WHEAT, CORN, VEGOIL EXPORTS

According to UAC, as of December 22, only 375,000 metric tons of wheat had so far been exported, out of 1 million tons contracted for shipment during the full month.

For corn, 1.5 million tons have been shipped so far out of a contracted 2 million tons. In the case of sunoil, 275,000 tons had been shipped out of a contracted 410,000 tons, and exports for the full month were not likely to exceed 350,000 tons.

“Some traders have defaulted (on wheat), and some contracts are being rescheduled for January due to insufficient capacity at ports,” UAC said.

In December last year, Ukraine exported 800,000 tons of wheat, 2.6 million tons of corn and 378,000 tons of sunflower oil.

The Ukrainian economy ministry said on Monday that total grain exports had declined to 1.82 million tons in December 1-22 this year, from 2.88 million tons in December 1-27 last year, mostly due to smaller shipments of corn and wheat.

https://gcaptain.com/ukraine-warns-food-exports-at-risk-after-russia-drone-strikes-on-ports/

>>24024369

"charge what the market will bear" has been around for a long time

Report: U.S. Navy Exceeded Limits for Underperforming Recruits

Published Dec 23, 2025 5:00 PM by The Maritime Executive

In its rush to meet recruitment targets, the U.S. Navy exceeded the allowable legal limit for recruits who underperform on standard armed forces capability testing, according to the Pentagon's Office of the Inspector General.

The Navy has a serious need for more enlisted personnel out in the fleet, and is running some of its warships short-handed. In FY2023, it missed its recruitment target by 20 percent, hampered by multiple factors: a shortage of qualified youths in the general population; a new medical-records system that discovered disqualifying conditions at a higher rate; and a strong jobs market, which made military service less economically competitive with civilian employment.

In response, the Navy made an all-out push to make it easier and faster to sign up and enlist. The service tripled the number of office staff assigned to perform medical waiver reviews, and it sped up operations at regional testing stations. It reduced its minimum acceptable score on the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT) to the lowest level allowable by law, and increased the maximum recruit age to 41, the oldest it can accept without permission from Congress. It also opened a remedial program for applicants who do not meet minimum requirements at the time of first contact with a recruiter.

The pre-boot camp program for underperforming recruits is called the Future Sailor Preparatory Course. The program has two tracks - one for personnel who need help passing the AFQT entrance exam, and one for those who need to improve their physical fitness. Together, the two tracks have a 90 percent pass rate, according to the service.

In a review released earlier this month, the Pentagon's Inspector General found that through the enlistment of program participants, the Navy had accepted more than 2,700 people who scored in the 30th percentile or below on the AFQT (lower than the top 70 percent of all test takers) in the first half of the fiscal year. This amounted to about 11 percent of the recruits amassed to date at that point in the year - well in excess of the four percent limit that would trigger notification to the Secretary of Defense and Congress.

The Navy disagreed with this finding, and it put the low-performer accession count at seven percent - still in excess of the congressional limit, but not as much. The Navy counted test scores posted after its remedial program, while the OIG reviewers counted applicants' initial test scores posted before the program. A Navy official informed OIG that the purpose of the remedial program was to improve the test scores and open up more opportunities for recruits, and counting their pre-remedial test scores would undermine the program's objective.

This might be a procedural disagreement on paper, but the OIG warned that it could have practical consequences.

"Exceeding enlistments of [low-scoring] recruits, who . . . tend to exhibit below-average trainability and on-the-job performance, without the awareness and approval of the Department's leadership, could create unanticipated quality gaps in the fleet, degrading the Navy's overall readiness and lethality," the OIG wrote.

https://maritime-executive.com/article/report-u-s-navy-exceeded-limits-for-underperforming-recruits

"and is running some of its warships short-handed" they were doing that back in the 90s and I know that from first-hand experience

>>24024387

That pesky old Magna Carta just ruined everything

>>24024456

>The Constitution was set up to protect the interests of banskters, entrepreneurs, labor and farmers

Other than the bankster part how is that a bad thing?

>>24024612

>but most actively decide against it.

best quality for lowest price, called "consumerism"

>>24024569

That's fine. Get all funding from the Palestinian Authority and not NJ State or Federal from this point on

>>24024686

Does this Everify only work for those with "Real IDs?"

>>24024656

>"yummy, anitiotics and other pharma meds in my meat and eggs, tasty, and doesn't cost extra, I will take that for a dollar"

You're catching on

>>24024701

Most agreeable, thank you for the info anon

>>24025011

Christmas Eve and you were the best shill available?

>>24025069

>He deserves a life sentence in a nice harsh prison.

You are kind hearted anon

I'd say let the mama bears that have lost sons and maybe even husbands to the Uke drafts deal with that little shit