Rada deputy: Russia will deprive Ukraine of 60 percent of GDP in a matter of hours
Russia's Black Sea Fleet could paralyze the Ukrainian economy by blocking the passage of merchant ships to its ports.
Verkhovna Rada deputy and secretary of the parliamentary committee on national security, defense, and intelligence, Roman Kostenko, announced this on the Ukraine 24 television channel, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to Kostenko, more than half of Ukrainian GDP is provided by trade turnover using Black Sea ports. To avoid a blockade, the MP calls for requesting UK assistance.
“What are our two main problems now? This is air and sea. A few months ago, when this escalation was not happening, I said that it was necessary to pay attention, in particular at a meeting with the British, with parliamentarians, that the Russian Federation, having annexed Crimea, annexed our water territory three times larger. And we are left with 13 nautical miles, a waterway where all imports and exports take place, 60% of GDP passes through these ports. Knowing this, they can block this with their Black Sea Fleet in a matter of hours,” the deputy said.
“Unfortunately, after the annexation of Crimea, the entire fleet, the bulk of it, remained there. And we will not be able to resist them, so I asked that their [British] naval forces go into the Black Sea and help us patrol. This is the first. Because if they already block it, then it will be too late,” Kostenko said.
Rada Deputy : Russia will deprive Ukraine of 60 percent of its GDP in a matter of hours