Ukraine's grain blockage is leaving millions hungry and looking for other options

While some believe that Ukraine’s fate will be decided on the front lines of battle, others are looking somewhere else: the 44 million people who relied on Ukraine for food and are getting hungrier by the minute. 

Ukraine’s grain supplies were one of the main food sources for the Middle East and Africa, regions which are now undergoing a famine because of the blockades around the country’s Black Sea ports.

Before the war broke out between Russia and Ukraine on February 24, Ukraine supplied 11% of the world’s grains—worth about $18.5 billion in 2018, according to World Bank data.

Ukraine was also a major supplier of the United Nation’s World Food Program, which provided food to the world’s population that needs it.  

But now, the lack of food exports from Ukraine and rising tensions amidst its uncertain future have caused riots in Libya, Liberia, Syria, and South Sudan, among others, as they run out of food. 

Leaders from the Middle East and Africa are exerting pressure on the West to find a peace deal with Russia and bring back their food supplies. However, such a deal would most likely benefit Russia, say experts, cited by The Daily Mail. 

Dozens of African and Middle Eastern nations are already engaged in cooperation agreements or arms deals with Russia and have been vocal about their support for the Kremlin. 

African Union President Macky Sall recently traveled to Moscow to meet with Putin, where he blamed the lack of food on western sanctions, according to the Daily Mail. Similarly, South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa, said the war is happening because of NATO’s “aggression.” In the Middle East, Syria also sided with Russia. 

In response, western leaders vowed to “do whatever it takes” to reopen Ukraine’s ports at today’s G7 meeting. 

While efforts are being made to get the grain out of the country through road or rail networks, they cannot handle the volume of grain necessary to restore the exports needed to feed those in need. 

Ukraine’s main export route was through its Black Sea Ports in Odesa and Mykolaiv. But moving the grain through there, however, would involve sailing past Russia’s Black Sea fleet and a minefield—a risk many are not willing to take. 

“We want to export our agricultural products to you as badly as you want to receive them,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dymitro Kuleba last week at an online briefing. “And there is only one reason why both ends of this supply chain – which is us and you – cannot benefit from these exports. It’s the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports as a result of the Russian military aggression against Ukraine.”