Hello from the Heartland. My name is Jenna and this is Smarter News, News when it matters and why it matters.

Our Smarter series features unique people who help us think and live smarter.

Well, today is my favorite type of news story because it allows us to give attention to a headline that's not really getting the attention that it potentially deserves.

And it's also going to give us an opportunity to learn something new about a topic that probably very few of us know a lot about.

So here's a little background. We focused recently,

and rightfully so, on the Russian war on Ukraine. But most of the coverage that we've been

reporting on has been focused on what's happening inside Ukraine on the land. But today,

what we're going to do is we're going to focus on the coastline and the strategic waters around Ukraine and Russia. Did you know

that dozens of cargo ships, more than a thousand crew members from around the world, have actually

been trapped because of this war that's ongoing? In fact, the International Chamber of Shipping

recently said about these waters. And this is a quote, multiple ships have been

hit by munitions, seafarers have been killed and injured, and seafarers of all nationalities

are trapped on ships birthed in the port.

So bottom line here, it's not just about the land.

It's not just about Ukrainians and Russians if we're actually going to cover this story more completely. This is also about what's happening on the water and the

potential for this to impact not only shipping channels and crews and supply chain and the inflation

that we've talked so much about. Yes, it has all the potential to impact that and we're going to

talk more about that. But I also am curious about what happens with these ships about whether or not this could be

part of an escalation that we should watch.

We're always asking the question, well, what's going to happen next?

What can actually make this conflict into a bigger conflict and draw in other countries from around the world?

And so this is why I'm really interesting, interested in this topic. And we're lucky because our guest actually knows a lot about this,

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