The United Nations warned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could tip the world into famine, as Moscow’s Black Sea blockade strangled grain exports from one of the planet’s great breadbaskets and stoked fears of deepening hunger in countries such as Yemen and Ethiopia.
Michael Fakhri, the UN expert on the right to food, issued the warning in the invasion’s first weeks. “For the last three years, global rates of hunger and famine have been on the rise. With the Russian invasion, we are now facing the risk of imminent famine and starvation in more places around the world,” he said, pressing states to protect refugees, older persons, people with disabilities and children. “Food should never be weaponised and no country in the world should be driven into famine and desperation.”
Ukraine’s Black Sea exports had stalled outright, German media reported, quoting Jörg-Simon Immerz, grain trading head at BayWa, Germany’s biggest agricultural trader. At least 100 ships sat stranded across the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and traders begged Russia to open a “blue corridor” out.
The London-based International Grains Council cut its forecast for Ukraine’s grain exports by nearly a quarter, from 62.8 million tonnes to 47.8 million, and said railways could not plug the gap: “Commercial Black Sea port loadings are currently suspended in Ukraine. Although there are efforts to increase exports via railway routes through the country’s western borders, overall volumes are likely to be limited.”
Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh and Iran draw 60% of their grain imports from Russia and Ukraine combined, the UN said. The World Food Programme calculated that losing Ukraine’s grains and pulses could add up to $23 million a month to its food buying, threatening underfunded crises in Yemen, Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Syria and other hotspots.
By June 2022 some 22 million tons of grain were stuck inside Ukraine. A leading world exporter of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, Kyiv had also banned exports of barley, rye, oats and millet to safeguard its own supplies. Moscow floated a corridor deal that would have Ukraine clear its mines from the waters off Odesa while Russia inspected incoming vessels for weapons; Ukrainian officials refused to trust the Kremlin’s assurances.
European Council President Charles Michel accused the Kremlin of “weaponising food supplies and surrounding their actions with a web of lies, Soviet-style.” “These are Russian ships and Russian missiles that are blocking the export of crops and grain,” he said, adding that “Russian tanks, bombs and mines are preventing Ukraine from planting and harvesting.” The West exempted food from its sanctions, but US and EU measures against Russian ships left Moscow complaining it could not move its own crop.
David Beasley, who led the World Food Programme, begged donors to look past the war: “While you’re focused on Ukraine, please don’t neglect the Sahel, please don’t neglect Syria and Jordan, Lebanon. If you do, the consequences will be catastrophic.” And, he asked plainly: “Is it fair for us to take food from children in Ethiopia to give to the children in Ukraine? No.”
Turkey tried to mediate, with foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu meeting Russia’s Sergey Lavrov, though Kyiv sat out those talks.
Sources
- UN warns Russian blockade of Ukraine’s grain exports may trigger global famine | Food security | The Guardian
- Russia, Ukraine: As war drags on, fears of global food crisis grow | Nine.com.au
