With the Black Sea route closed by the Russian aggression, 20 million tonnes of grain were trapped in Ukraine before last summer. The Commission launched the Solidarity Lanes Action Plan in May 2022 to establish alternative logistics routes via rail, road and inland waterways.
The importance of the Solidarity Lanes
- Crucial for exports of Ukrainian agricultural goods
- Only option for exporting other Ukrainian goods
- Only option for Ukraine to import all the goods it needs (fuel, humanitarian aid)
So far, over 48 million tonnes of grain, oilseeds, and related products have left Ukraine through the Solidarity Lanes. They enabled the export of around 60% of Ukraine's grain since the start of the war. 40% of Ukrainian grain has been exported via the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
The Solidarity Lanes have also helped export over 42 million tonnes of non-agricultural products from Ukraine (ores, iron and steel, wood) and generated an income of about €38 billion for Ukrainian farmers and businesses.
Export of grain, oilseeds and other related products through the Solidarity Lanes. Source: Ukrainian customs registers.
MT = million tonnes
Key developments
- June 2022
New road transport agreements between the EU, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova allow additional transport by road. Hauliers can now transit through and operate between each other’s territories, without the need for permits.
- July 2022
Proposal to extend the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) to Ukraine and Moldova.
- December 2022
€220 million invested in military mobility projects, improving the infrastructure on the Solidarity Lanes in Germany, Poland and Romania.
- June 2023
Association of Ukraine to the EU’s programme for infrastructure funding – the Connecting Europe Facility, allowing Ukraine to apply for EU funding in the transport, energy and digital realms – for better connections between the EU and Ukraine. A similar agreement was signed between the EU and the Republic of Moldova in May 2023.
- June 2023
€250 million invested in 9 Solidarity Lanes projects to improve cross-border connections between Ukraine, Moldova, and the EU.
- July 2023
New study on EU rail connections with Ukraine and Moldova suggests as a first step to establish a European track gauge connection from Kraków/Katowice (Poland) to Lviv (Ukraine), as well as from Iasi (Romania) to Chisinău (Moldova).
