UN chief: “a handful of donations" won't fix dramatic impact of Russia's blockade on Ukrainian grain
A few donations from Russia won't be enough to fix the drastic effects of ending the "grain agreement".
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated this, Reuters reports.
As you know, the Russian president of the aggressor country, Vladimir Putin, told the leaders of African countries that he would give them tens of thousands of tons of grain within a few months. This will happen despite Western sanctions, which, as he emphasized, make it difficult to export grain and fertilizers.
It should be noted that Russian grain and fertilizer exports are not subject to Western sanctions. Still, Moscow has said that restrictions on payments, logistics, and insurance are an obstacle to supplies.
For his part, Guterres noted that any increase in food prices will now be "paid for by everyone and everywhere – and above all by developing countries and vulnerable people in middle-income countries and even in developed countries."
"Obviously, removing millions and millions of tons of grain from the market will lead to an increase in prices. So we will not correct this dramatic impact, which affects everyone and everywhere, with a handful of donations to some countries," said the UN Secretary-General.
For reference:
On July 17, the Kremlin refused to extend the "grain agreement." The press secretary of the Russian dictator Dmytro Peskov said that the agreements regarding the "grain initiative" have been terminated.
After that, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, offered Turkey and the UN to continue the "grain initiative" in a tripartite format. The state is considering transporting food through the territorial waters of Romania and Bulgaria.
On July 19, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation threatened that any countries sending ships to Ukrainian ports would be seen as taking part in the war.
At the same time, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin said that Russia would resume participating in the "grain agreement" only if the West fulfilled several demands.
As reported, on July 24, the Russian army attacked a port in the Odesa region with drones, destroying a grain hangar.
And at night, on July 21, the enemy attacked an agricultural enterprise in the Odesa region with Kalibr rockets targeting the grain depots and a facility where farming equipment was kept.
As Rubryka wrote, the Ukraine-NATO Council, during the meeting on July 26, strongly condemned Russia's decision to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Agreement.
