The EU has said that Moscow’s “barbarian” attitude in attacking food supplies is demonstrated by the third night of bombings on Ukraine’s ports.
Ukrainian authorities reported that the strikes early Thursday morning on Odesa, a Black Sea port town near Mykolayiv, killed three people and injured 23 others.
Three nights of airstrikes on Ukrainian ports followed a Monday announcement by Moscow that it was withdrawing from an agreement which allowed grain to be exported to international markets. Andriy Yermak said that they were an “attempt to destroy the capability to supply food to countries in the global south”.
The move by Moscow to withdraw from the Black Sea Grain Initiative that allowed grain exports via sea since August last year, as well as its announcement to treat all inbound vessels like military threats has pushed up food prices globally. Based on the benchmark US hard red winter wheat delivered in September, the price of wheat has risen by 12 percent over the last week.
On Thursday, Ukraine said that it will also consider Russian vessels targets. In a notification issued in a formal manner, Ukraine stated that all vessels sailing in the Black Sea towards Russian ports and Russian-occupied territories “can be treated by Ukraine as targets”. . . Carrying military cargo with the risks associated”.
Ukrainian and Western officials are looking at ways to keep shipping moving despite Russia’s threats. A senior Western military official stated: “We treat Black Sea, which is bordered by Nato nations on half, as if it were Russian-occupied land, like Eastern Ukraine.”
He said that Ukrainian ships transporting grain could navigate by hugging the coastlines of Romania and Bulgaria while its armed forces held Russian naval vessels at bay using land-launched rockets. He did not go into detail.
Serhii Kuza, the head of the Ukrainian Security and Cooperation Centre in Kyiv said that an international response will protect Ukraine’s port and neutralise Russian threats against food supplies.
Kuzan stated that if we combine our capabilities with those of the UN, Turkey, and other western allies we can keep the shipping lanes open. He also pointed out that Russia doesn’t control the section of the Black Sea in the north-west, where the shipping lanes run.
According to a person who has been briefed about the negotiations, diplomatic conversations have now shifted from “stopping (the) escalation” to “stopping (the) escalation”. Negotiators expect Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, who still has strong ties with Vladimir Putin despite Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine to be the one to “do the heavy lifting” to persuade his Russian counterpart to engage on the grain corridor.
Erdogan said that he will speak by phone to Putin this week when he returns to Turkey from his international commitments. Putin is expected to also visit Turkey in August.
Josep Borrell said that 60,000 tonnes had been burned as a result Russia’s bombing of storage facilities within Ukraine’s port infrastructure.
“If this grain not only is stopped, but [also] destroyed. . . This is going to cause a massive food crisis around the globe,” he said Thursday.
“This is a grave situation.” “This consideration that any vessel [is] a ship of war and therefore a target for military activities by Russia is a further step to prevent Ukraine from exporting its grains,” he stated ahead of a European Union meeting that will discuss the crisis.
He said that the “massive aerial attacks” demonstrated Russia’s “barbarian approach which will be considered by the Council [of Foreign Ministers] today”.
“Ministers will need to decide how to proceed. But there is only one way to proceed: increase military support for Ukraine. “If they are being bombarded, then we must provide anti-aerial capabilities,” he continued.
Ukraine’s Air Force said the overnight attacks on Wednesday and Thursday “targeted piers and ports, residential buildings, and trade networks” throughout the southern regions.
Before the war, Ukraine was responsible for about one tenth (10) of all global wheat exports. Analysts say that the latest air strikes show Russia is not afraid to attack wheat export infrastructure and stocks directly.
Carlos Mera is an agricultural analyst with Rabobank. He said that even if [the Black Sea Grain] agreement were to be renewed now, it wouldn’t be as effective as before due to damage in the ports. Although Ukraine has alternative routes to export its grain, they are associated with significantly higher transport costs.
Annalena Bärbock, the German foreign minister, responded to the Russian attack by saying that she was working to prevent grain from rotting in Ukraine.
She added, “Hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people need grain from Ukraine urgently. That is why we work with all of our international partners to ensure that grain in Ukraine doesn’t rot in silos over the next few months, but instead reaches people in need around the world.”