2023-08-03 17:08:08
2023-08-04 01:08 United Daily News International Center/Comprehensive Report Russia expanded its air strikes on Ukrainian grain export ports.Archyde.com
Since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Agreement that allowed Ukraine to export grain last month, it has continued to attack Ukrainian grain transportation and storage facilities. Air strikes on the Black Sea port of Odessa and several ports on the Danube River have led to a surge in international food prices. The European Union warned that Russia was using food as a weapon to block Ukrainian grain exports and provide cheap food to developing countries, “creating new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerability and global food insecurity”.
The Black Sea agreement was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July 2022 to help ease the global food crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. After Russia withdrew last month, it began targeting Ukrainian ports such as Odessa on the Black Sea and the Port of Ismail and Port Reni on the Danube River, and launched attacks on food infrastructure. Global food prices soared.
A Ukrainian military spokesman said last week that the Ukrainian military lacked defenses against Russian attacks on grain infrastructure and that “almost all” Ukrainian ports were now under Russian blockade.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who brokered the Black Sea deal, said grain prices, which fell 23 percent when the deal was implemented, have risen 15 percent in the past two weeks. On the 2nd, he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin, vowing that Turkey would intensify efforts to restore the agreement through diplomacy. Putin said Russia “expressed its willingness to cooperate with Turkey and other relevant countries on this issue”.
Before Russia withdrew from the Black Sea agreement, it had repeatedly said it had no reason to extend it. The Russian side said the agreement promised to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertilizer exports, but it has not been fulfilled.
Putin told African leaders at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg last week that Russia will provide tens of thousands of tons of free food to Africa in the next few months, replacing Ukraine’s food exports to Africa and playing a key role in global food security.
According to Archyde.com, the European Union’s foreign policy chief Paul Porel sent a letter to developing countries and the G20 on July 31, urging a “clear and unified voice” to demand that Russia return to the Black Sea grain agreement.
“As the world faces supply disruptions and rising prices, Russia is proposing bilateral grain shipments at discounted prices to vulnerable countries, pretending to solve a problem it has created,” Porel said. Russia, he said, is “deliberately using food as a weapon , creating new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerability and global food insecurity”.
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