Russia Attacks Ukraine’s Black Sea Coast Destroy Grain Storage; Africa Worried
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
KYIV/MOSCOW/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Kyiv says Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea coast have destroyed 60,000 tonnes of grain and damaged storage infrastructure, raising further doubts about the world’s food security.
Russia began attacks Tuesday within hours after refusing to extend a grain deal that allowed Ukraine, a world’s breadbasket, to export grain out of Black Sea ports safely.
More strikes followed overnight into Wednesday, targeting grain terminals and port infrastructure in Odesa and further down the Black Sea coast in Chornomorsk, officials said. They were two of the three ports included in the export deal.
At least 12 civilians, including a nine-year-old boy, were wounded during the attacks, which also caused damage to blocks of flats, according to Ukraine’s military.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said each missile strike was a blow to Ukraine and “everyone in the world striving for a normal and safe life.”
The Kremlin’s move sparked concern, especially in food-insecure countries, including Africa. The Kenyan government called Moscow’s withdrawal a “stab in the back” for drought-hit nations in the Horn of Africa.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Russia’s withdrawal “will strike a blow to people in need everywhere.”
OXFAM EXPRESSING WORRIES
Elise Nalbandian, regional hunger crisis advocacy manager for aid group Oxfam in Africa, says food, fuel, and fertilizer in East Africa were already expensive due to regional conflicts and the climate crisis.
“(The grain deal) was an important diplomatic solution for a conflict that is affecting the whole world, but the bigger issue is that the food system globally is inconvertibly broken. It is only when something like the Black Sea grain initiative stops, then everyone pays attention to how unfortunate the situation has become,” she said.
Aid workers say significantly affected by a lack of food supplies is the Horn of Africa, where millions face starvation due to insufficient rainfall that caused the worst drought in forty years.
The World Health Organization said last year’s drought claimed 40,000 lives in Somalia alone due to malnutrition.
Adding to difficulties are reports that African nations owe billions of dollars to China and private Western lenders, experts say.
However, Oxfam food expert Hanna Saarinen told Vatican Radio that “while this grain deal has played a part in calming skyrocketing food prices, it is not the cure-all for world hunger.”
Saarinen said conflict-stricken Somalia and South Sudan received “less than 3 percent of grain from this deal.” Specifically, “Somalia received a mere 0.2 percent.”
TURKEY STILL OPTIMISTIC
With tensions rising, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he believes his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin wants the grain deal to continue.
However, officials suggested that Russia may demand relief from sanctions imposed by the West in exchange for its resumption.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested that grain shipping could continue without Russia’s participation, though Moscow warned it wouldn’t provide security guarantees.
Russia defended its attacks, saying it responded to Ukrainian strikes, including in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The peninsula saw further disruption on Wednesday, with 2,200 residents being rushed to safety from four villages near a military training range after a fire triggered hours of explosions at a nearby ammunition depot.
Russian-installed officials shut a 12-km (7.5-mile) section of the Tavrida motorway that links the cities of Simferopol and Sevastopol in southern Crimea to the bridge over the Kerch strait that had been attacked in recent days.
A series of explosions were heard in the area on Wednesday amid allegations that three Ukrainian strikes caused the fire near the city of Staryi Krim.
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