Ukraine’s Grain Trap: Russian Missiles, European Protectionism and a Drying Danube
Russia does not need to destroy Ukraine’s harvest to inflict serious economic damage. It only needs to make shipping dangerous enough that crews and shipowners refuse to enter Ukrainian ports. With Black Sea exports under pressure, Kyiv is once again looking west — only to find Poland, Hungary and Slovakia wary of reopening routes that previously triggered furious farmer protests. Add drought on the Danube, and Ukraine is caught in a three-way squeeze that could eventually reach food markets far beyond Europe.