KYIV. Dec 5 (Interfax) - Cargo flow at the Ukrainian ports in the Sea of Azov have more than halved, and the ports have had to shift to a four-day workweek and cut the number of employees, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelian wrote on Facebook.
"As we expected, Moscow is undertaking the manual regulation of access to the Ukrainian seaports in the Sea of Azov for trade ships according to Kremlin's long-standing principle: 'it's up to me to decide.' [...] As a result of this approach, two Ukrainian ports had to more than halve their cargo flow and had to shift to a four-day workweek and slash the number of employees," Omelian wrote.
As of Wednesday morning, 29 ships were waiting to pass through the Kerch-Yenikale Canal: 16 to the ports, two from the ports, and 11 more anchored at berths, the Infrastructure Ministry said. On December 3, those numbers were 17, 1, and 9.
Ten ships have passed through the canal to the ports and 16 from the ports since November 25.
The Infrastructure Ministry said earlier that the Kerch Strait had been unblocked.
Russia dismisses accusations that it is delaying ships and says that their inspections in the Sea of Azov are being conducted in line with its agreement with Ukraine.