UN Warns of "Hundreds of Millions Facing Hunger Crisis"... Warning on Russia's Weaponization of Food Supplies

Failure of Negotiations to Resume Grain Transport Routes
Russia Demands "Lifting Port Entry Ban and Insurance Prohibition"

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] The failure of negotiations to resume grain transport routes between Ukraine and Russia is intensifying the global food crisis. The United Nations (UN) has warned that Russia's weaponization of food could put hundreds of millions of people worldwide at risk of hunger and poverty.

On the 8th (local time), the UN announced through the second report of the Global Crisis Response Team on food and energy supply issues triggered by the Ukraine war that the global food crisis is in a severe state.

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary-General, stated at a press conference that "Russia's blockade of Ukraine's Black Sea grain export ports is worsening the global food shortage," and criticized that "the war could cause unprecedented hunger and poverty and lead to socio-economic turmoil."

In fact, since the Russian military's invasion of Ukraine, the blockade of Black Sea coastal ports has trapped over 20 million tons of grain scheduled for export to the Middle East and Africa, spreading hunger in impoverished countries such as Somalia, Ethiopia, and Yemen. This has disrupted the global grain supply chain and led countries to impose food export bans. Secretary-General Guterres expressed concern that "a shortage of major grains including rice, corn, and wheat could deliver a fatal blow to billions of people in Asia and South America."

Earlier, on the 3rd, the UN, together with Turkey, mediated negotiations to resume grain transport routes between Ukraine and Russia, but reportedly failed to reach an agreement. Ukraine and Russia insisted on reopening the grain transport routes through the ports each controls, and their differences could not be reconciled.

According to CNN, the Turkish government proposed as a mediation plan to escort cargo ships with its own fleet regardless of which port the grain transport route would be resumed through, and also offered to dispatch troops to remove mines from the Black Sea coastal ports, but Russia did not accept these proposals.

Russia reportedly strongly demanded, as a separate condition for an agreement, that the European Union (EU) lift its sanctions banning Russian-flagged ships from entering ports and prohibiting maritime insurance, which were imposed as part of the EU's sanctions against Russia. Since this condition essentially calls for the lifting of EU sanctions against Russia, even if negotiations resume in the future, reaching an agreement is expected to be difficult.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.