War in Ukraine: Baerbock warns of unprecedented global hunger crisis

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Federal Foreign Minister Baerbock at a meeting of United Nations foreign ministers

Photo: TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP

Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has accused Russia of triggering an impending hunger crisis by blocking grain exports from Ukraine and of using hunger as a weapon.

"By blockading Ukrainian ports, destroying silos, roads and railroads, and especially farmers' fields, Russia has started a grain war that is fueling a global food crisis," Baerbock said during a foreign ministers' meeting at the United Nations in New York.

"This threatens to brew a global food crisis that has never existed before," said Baerbock.

47 million people around the world are at risk of starvation.

According to the federal government, Russia is preventing Ukraine from exporting 20 million tons of grain, mainly to North Africa and Asia, most of it in the port of Odessa.

Ukraine is one of the largest producers in the world.

"Russia isn't just waging its brutal war with tanks, missiles and bombs," the Greens politician continued.

"Russia is waging this war with another terrible but quieter weapon: hunger and deprivation." This is happening at a time when millions of people in the Middle East and Africa are already threatened by hunger - due to the climate crisis, the corona pandemic and regional conflicts.

UN Secretary-General urges Russia to allow grain exports from Ukraine

UN Secretary-General António Guterres also increased the pressure on Moscow in view of historical numbers of starving people: "Russia must allow grain stored in Ukrainian ports to be safely exported," said the 73-year-old.

It is necessary to bring the country back to the world market - just like Russia and Belarus, which also produce large quantities of food and fertilizer.

The war Russia started threatens to plunge tens of millions into food insecurity and trigger a crisis "that could last for years."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for a joint global effort.

"It's a crisis that requires a global response," Blinken said.

A big problem is the lack of fertilizers - incentives for their production have to be created.

“Take Africa, where fertilizer costs have already quadrupled since the pandemic began and have continued to soar since the Russian invasion of Ukraine,” he said.

After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, wheat prices rose to their highest level in 14 years.

According to the United Nations, global hunger has reached a new high.

The number of people with severe food insecurity has increased in the past two years from 135 to 276 million today.

More than half a million people are at risk of starvation - five times more than in 2016. The war in Ukraine is fueling this development: together, Ukraine and Russia produce almost a third of the world's wheat and barley and half of the sunflower oil.

kim/dpa/AFP