The international community works on the plans to unblock this raw material that holds strategic importance for many countries
German Minister of Agriculture Cem Özdemir has intentions to assist Ukraine with grain exports as this grain got stuck in the Ukrainian ports.
«We constantly get the messages about russia’s determined attacks on grain elevators, storages of fertilizers, farms and infrastructure», the politician told DW. In this move that russian leader Vladimir Putin is making, Cem Özdemir tends to see an attempt to «remove Ukraine as a competitor for quite a while».
According to DW, during the meeting of ministers of agriculture of G7 member countries, Cem Ozdemir and his counterparts plans to discuss how to guarantee Ukraine’s access to the world markets. «We should provide the opportunity to open the alternative transport routes», he insisted.
The invaders are obsessed with our agricultural storages
Meanwhile, another attack on the elevator (see the image) took place in Dnipropetrovsk region. «We’ve got another hit in Synelnykivsky district. A missile hit the elevator, destroying the grain storage. According to preliminary estimates, there are no casualties. The orcs are obsessed with our agricultural storages», Valentyn Reznhichenko, the head of Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration posted in his Telegram channel on May 2.
Martin Frick, the representative of UN World Food Program also mentions huge stocks of grain in our country that are supposed to be saving people from hunger, but these stocks cannot reach their destinations because of the actions of russian occupants.
According to him, almost four and a half million tons of grain are blocked in our docks. This product cannot be exported via the closed naval routes as russian military invasion goes on, Radio Liberty reports with the reference to dpa agency.
Before the war, Ukraine remained one of the world’s largest exporters of grain and producers of corn. A lot of countries depend on these supplies, the UN claims.
«Hunger should not become a weapon», Martin Frick insists. He urges to restore the supplies of Ukrainian food to other countries so as to soften the global food crisis.
Earlier, the Western countries were warned of possible food crisis and hunger in the Middle East, Africa and certain regions of Asia (the locals suffer from malnutrition there, and millions of people survive thanks to the supplies of bread that they get by subsidies, and cheap noodles) due to the war that russia started against Ukraine. In March, the UN observed the growth of food prices by more than 12 percent. It became the record-large index from 1990.
Radio Liberty added that in late March, Wendy Sherman, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of the State reported that russia’s navy block the access to Ukrainian ports, depriving Kyiv of the possibility to export the grain and preventing 94 vessels with food products from entering the Mediterranean.
The occupants steal grain and we document the facts
Russian invaders take the grain stocks away from the temporarily occupied areas in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhya regions. There was roughly 1.5 million tons of grain seeds that were necessary for the sowing campaign and for domestic use. Several hundreds of tons were stolen and brought to russia, said Taras Vysotsky, the first deputy of minister of agriculture.
«We have confirmed facts that the overall amount of several hundred tons of grain crops were taken from Kherson, Zaporizhya, Luhansk and Donetsk regions. There’s some 1.5 million tons of grain crops on these premises in the farmer reserves that were stocked for sowing campaign as well as for processing (for making flour and baking the bread). It’s a sizeable stock. In terms of international prices, that costs hundreds of millions of dollars. And there’s a huge risk it will be simply stolen and taken away for russia’s benefits», he says.
However, Taras Vysotsky claims that there were no stocks of strategic importance on the occupied territories. In these regions, there was grain that was necessary for domestic consumption before these territories reap the new harvest. «So, the first thing we can talk about is the genocide of the Ukrainian nation, not the blow to our economy», he said.
All facts of the theft are reported and documented as evidence in the international courts for full compensation of direct and collateral expenses, and for return of these funds to the Ukrainian economy, reads the statement on the official website of Ministry of Agrarian Policy.
Alternative routes are not enough for full-fledged export
First deputy minister is confident that Ukraine has enough grain within the government-controlled areas to cover the needs for two years. The rest is exported. Due to the blockade of seaports, the Ministry seeks new logistics routes, particularly using the railways. One of these lies across the port of Constanta in Romania. The corridors across Poland and the ports of Baltic states are considered viable options, too.
«The alternative routes of Ukrainian export keep evolving», Taras Vysotsky says. «For the time being, there is no domestic deficit, too. After liberation of territories, we will be able to provide the locals with food supplies. The same, however, cannot be said about the international food security».
The image is a screenshot.
