Russia’s food terrorism and global food security

Άρθρο του Πρέσβη της Ουκρανίας στην Κύπρο Ruslan Nimchynskiy με τίτλο «Η επισιτιστική τρομοκρατία της Ρωσίας και η παγκόσμια επισιτιστική ασφάλεια». Ακολουθεί το άρθρο στα αγγλικά 

Russia's full-scale armed invasion of Ukraine in 2022 caused a protracted humanitarian crisis and affected the global food supply. Ukraine,

known as the world's breadbasket, delivered 46% of the world's sunflower oil exports, 12% of the world's corn exports, and wheat exports, providing most of the imported grain to many countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Due to the significant grain export in previous years, some countries have become dependent on Ukrainian grain. Countries such as Lebanon, Djibouti, Pakistan, Somalia, Mauritania, and Eritrea meet more than half of their wheat needs thanks to Ukraine. Generally, grain from Ukraine is irreplaceable in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Such dependence on Ukrainian grain means that any disruption in the supply chain could have serious consequences for these countries.

The Kremlin's unprovoked and unjustified war against Ukraine has caused serious damage to the Ukrainian economy and exacerbated global food insecurity, especially in developing countries. Russia blocked Ukrainian trade routes across the Black Sea, mined Ukrainian agricultural fields, burned crops, destroyed Ukraine's food supplies, created labor shortages, and attacked merchant ships and ports.

Despite the terrorist war of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, daily missile attacks, mining of Ukrainian ports, and shelling of farms, Ukraine harvested 55 million tons of grain this year and exported 85 percent of it.

We managed to launch the Black Sea Grain Initiative, which has proven to be a vital lifeline for the world. This enabled Ukraine to resume shipping millions of tons of desperately needed grain exports through the international waters of the Black Sea. The deal unlocked millions of tons of grain and other foods that would otherwise be stuck in Ukraine. The Black Sea Grain Initiative helped people in need across the globe by directly delivering food to lower-income countries and bringing down food prices.

Owing to the Black Sea Grain Initiative, more than half of the global supply by the United Nations World Food Programme has been covered by Ukrainian grain.

In the frame of this Initiative, Ukraine exported over 33 million tons of agricultural products to 45 countries, and 60% of the volumes went to the countries of Africa and Asia.  

But nonetheless, on 17 July 2023, Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative and started attacking Ukrainian ports storing grain intended for export. As a result of massive attacks since Russia's withdrawal from the Initiative, Ukraine suffered a reduction in the export potential of its ports by 40%, and over 300,000 tons of grain were destroyed. The export of grain cargoes to the countries of Asia, Africa, and Europe was reduced by almost 3 million tons per month.

The Kremlin continues to block Ukrainian ports and threaten civilian ships carrying food, while Russian missile strikes destroy Ukrainian grain warehouses and transport hubs.

But even in these difficult conditions, Ukraine is ready to remain a guarantor of global food security. Ukraine has harvested 70mln tons of crops (domestic demand is about 25%) out of this year's estimated 79,1 million tons of crops. We are ready to continue food export to the global market.

Ukraine continues to implement the Initiative using alternative routes. On 8 August, 2023 temporary routes for civilian vessels to/from the Black Sea ports of Ukraine came into effect. 62 vessels have already used this new alternative sea corridor transporting~1.5 million tons of crops.

The most promising in terms of grain export is the Danube corridor. The Ukrainian grain has been exported through Croatian ports. On 3 October, Lithuania agreed on a corridor for Ukrainian grain transit to the Baltic ports. On 10 October President Zelenskyy announced the establishment of a new grain corridor through Moldova and Romania. On 17 October, the Port of Riga received the first test container train with Ukrainian agricultural products. We consistently continue to increase the throughput of all corridors combined. The Ukrainian Government approved new rules for exporting agricultural products to make it impossible to abuse and violate the law during the export as well as to protect the rights of agricultural entrepreneurs who comply with export legislation.

Besides, Ukraine communicates actively with its partners to set up “Grain hubs” to store Ukrainian grain in seaports warehouses regionally and to ensure its swift shipment to the countries of the Middle East and Africa.  

The implementation of such an ambitious infrastructure project, with the involvement of interested partners, regional powers and international financial structures, will contribute to the strengthening of global food security and will allow a flexible response to the needs of regional markets.

We continue to work to strengthen global food security. Proving its genuine devotion to guaranteeing food security, Ukraine has also launched an important humanitarian program, “Grain from Ukraine,” initiated by President Zelenskyy. Within its framework, Ukraine provided grain free of charge to those in need, especially in countries of Africa.

Approximately 34 countries joined the Initiative. The program raised 200 million USD in donations and sent 170,000 tons of wheat to Ethiopia (90,000 tons), Somalia (25,000 tons), Yemen (30,000 tons), and Kenya (25,000 tons). Ukraine intends to send more ships with humanitarian grain to African countries: 25,000 tons to Nigeria, 32,000 tons to Sudan, and 12,500 tons to Somalia.

We call on countries around the globe to join this Initiative.

Food security is one of the elements of the Ukrainian Peace formula initiated by President Zelenskyy. This humanitarian initiative “Grain from Ukraine” is a powerful response to the threat created by Russia.

The grain export blockade from Ukraine is an attempt by Russia to cause a famine in the whole world seeking that its conditions are met.

A joint response of Ukraine and our partners will enable us to defuse the food crisis and save millions of people from hunger, and social chaos.

The better and safer tomorrow is in our hands and we are definitely capable to do our outmost to prove the strength of the Free World against the totalitarism.