MOSCOW, October 8. /TASS/. Ukraine has lost more than five billion dollars in foreign exchange revenue due to downtime at the Odessa ports, according to TASS calculations.

Commercial merchant ships continue to avoid the ports of Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny. Only vessels affiliated with the Ukrainian armed forces are calling at those ports. Consequently, maritime trade is being routed through Danube ports - that is, Izmail in Ukraine and Constanta in Romania - which together can potentially handle no more than one-third of the exports that previously passed through the ports of Odessa. As a result, Ukraine exported only 44% of its planned agricultural exports in September. Exports of metallurgical products ceased completely by the end of September. These two commodities together accounted for about 65% of Ukraine’s total exports and about $26 billion in foreign exchange earnings per year.

The Odessa port shutdown has been ongoing since July 22.