Ukraine's Danube Shipping Company lost $110 million due to military action in Yugoslavia last year that destroyed bridges and blocked traffic along the Danube, transport minister Leonid Kostyuchenko said.
NATO launched air strikes last year on Yugoslavia, which it accused of ethnic cleansing in the province of Kosovo, densely populated by ethnic Albanians. Kostyuchenko said collapsed bridges had blocked 63 Ukrainian ships on upper stretches of the Danube. Due to the disruption of the shipping, Ukraine's Danube ports were now working at just 40 percent of capacity, he said. This is not the first time Ukrainian companies suffer from problems in Yugoslavia.
Economic sanctions against Belgrade, imposed by the United Nations' Security Council in 1992 and lifted in 1995, cost Ukraine up to $2 billion.