As the Ukrainian government gears up for a major international investment forum in the eastern port city of Mariupol next week, arbitrary delays of Ukraine-bound commercial vessels by Russian maritime forces have again risen, researchers report.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky chose to hold his first major investment conference, starting on Oct. 29, in the Azov Sea city of Mariupol, the city of nearly 500,000 people located 750 kilometers southeast of Kyiv and only 25 kilometers from the Russian border.