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Ukraine could lose tens of millions of tonnes of grain due to
Russia's blockade of its Black Sea ports, triggering a food
crisis that will hit Europe, Asia and Africa, President
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.
“We are repeatedly receiving reports about targeted Russian
attacks on grain silos, fertilizer stores, farming areas and
infrastructure,” Oezdemir was quoted as telling the
Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, a cooperation network of German
regional newspapers.
Russia denies targeting civilian areas.
The suspicion is growing that Russian President Vladimir Putin
is seeking “in the long term to remove Ukraine as a competitor”,
Oezdemir was quoted as saying.
Russia and Ukraine are traditionally major competitors in global
grains markets. Global wheat prices have risen about 40% since
Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine cut supplies available on
world markets from the Black Sea.
According to International Grains Council data, Ukraine was the
world's fourth-largest grain exporter in the 2020/21 season,
selling 44.7 million tonnes abroad. The volume of exports has
fallen sharply since the Russian invasion.
“With the increasing hunger in the world, Russia is seeking to
build up pressure,” Oezdemir told the network. “At the same
time, the massive increase in market prices is coming in handy
for Russia because this brings new money into the country.”
Oezdemir said he would raise the question of how Ukraine could
be helped to boost its grain exports at a meeting of G7
agriculture ministers in mid-May.
“We must seek alternative transport methods,” he said. “Railway
transport could be a method of exporting more grain, although
with much effort and with limited capacity."
Germany would seek to give assistance, he added.
Ukraine has been gradually expanding grain exports using land
transport to the European Union. But the different rail track
widths in Ukraine and the EU mean Ukrainian trains cannot
automatically operate on the European rail network.
Moscow calls its actions a "special military operation" to
disarm Ukraine and rid it of anti-Russian nationalism fomented
by the West. Ukraine and the West say Russia launched an
unprovoked war of aggression that threatens to spiral into a
much wider conflict.
(Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Nick Macfie)
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