Fatal consequences of the Ukraine war: Russia's naval blockade could trigger a global food crisis
Created: 06/03/2022, 13:32
By: Bettina Menzel
The Russian landing ship BDK-58 Kaliningrad in the Black Sea.
The Russian naval blockade of the Black Sea ports is causing a shortage of food supplies worldwide (symbol image).
© Russian Defense Ministry / ITAR-TASS / Imago
Ukraine is the “granary of the world”.
But because of the Russian naval blockade in the Black Sea, Ukrainian wheat cannot be exported - there is a risk of famine in poorer countries.
Odessa - The grain harvest in southern Ukraine is imminent.
The sheer endless fields of wheat near the port city of Odessa do not suggest that famine could be imminent.
But Russia is blocking the Black Sea in the escalating Ukraine conflict.
The vital Ukrainian wheat cannot leave the country and is in danger of rotting - with catastrophic consequences for poorer countries.
Ukraine conflict: the world's granary cannot export - these are the devastating consequences
Before the Russian raid on February 24 this year, Ukraine was exporting around 4.5 million tons of agricultural products a month, including about 12 percent of the world's wheat, 15 percent of corn and half of its sunflower oil.
The Black Sea city of Odessa has been the center for agricultural export for many decades.
From there, Ukraine shipped the grain to the world.
But now Russia is blocking the trade routes in the Black Sea.
Apparently, 20 million tons of food are still stored in Ukraine and are in danger of rotting.
They are urgently needed in other parts of the world.
In Chad, for example, where the government has declared a food emergency because of rising food prices.
More than a third of Chad's population could be in need of humanitarian aid this year, according to the United Nations.
Russia's war in Ukraine: 1.4 billion people could face food shortages
"Depending on the duration of the war, between 33 and 47 million more people could slip into hunger and poverty," said the director of the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) in Germany, Martin Frick, the German Press Agency in April.
Even before the war began, the number of acutely hungry people worldwide was at a sad record level of 276 million.
Amin Awad, the UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, estimates that about 1.4 billion people worldwide could be affected by food shortages.
He said that at a UN online press conference on Friday.
It's not just about the current harvests and inventories.
Russia is one of the most important fertilizer exporters, but stopped exports, which is why the Ukraine war also has a major impact on future harvests.
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Allegation in the Ukraine conflict: Russia uses “hunger as a weapon of war”
Failing to open Black Sea ports will result in hunger, destabilization and mass migration around the world, Amin Awad warned on Friday.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had previously accused Russia of using hunger as a weapon of war.
Vladimir Putin isn't just waging the war with tanks, missiles and bombs, Baerbock told the UN in New York in mid-May.
“Russia is also 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 at risk of starvation – due to the climate crisis, the Covid pandemic and regional conflicts.
In addition to the naval blockade, Russia is also said to be stealing grain stored in Ukraine, satellite images are said to show.
This tactic brings back memories of the "Holodomor".
This term means "murder by starvation".
About four million Ukrainians starved to death between 1931 and 1933 as a result of the politics in the Soviet Union under the regime of Joseph Stalin.
But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba sees no parallels between the Ukraine war and the historic famine of the 1930s, as he said in an interview with the newspaper
Welt
informed.
Because at the moment there are enough agricultural products in Ukraine to feed oneself.
"But we closely follow the shiploads that Russia sends abroad and try to convince governments not to buy these stolen goods," Kuleba continued
(bm/dpa/AFP)
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