5.6 million tons of grain passed through the humanitarian corridor of Ukraine in the Black Sea
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The USA noted the work of the Black Sea Humanitarian Corridor, which “supports farmers and other businesses in Ukraine and provides food and other goods to the world.” This is stated in the tweet of the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink.
Brink noted that as of November 24, 153 vessels carrying more than 5.6 million metric tons of grain and other cargo passed through the Black Sea Humanitarian Corridor of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government claims that Ukraine was able to ensure the operation of the grain corridor on its own.
“You probably know that Ukraine secured the grain corridor in the Black Sea on its own, and not thanks to the agreement between Turkey, the UN and Russia. So, we secured the grain corridor ourselves, and the grain ships are now freed,” the Deputy Prime Minister said on issues of European integration, Olha Stefanishyna at a press conference at the European Commission in Vienna, media reports.
The UN is concerned that shelling of Ukrainian grain infrastructure may prevent Ukraine from meeting its domestic and export needs.
“If the attacks on the food infrastructure continue and the blockade of export routes continues, this will significantly affect the forecasts for agriculture for the coming years and in the worst case will lead to the fact that wheat production will not be able to meet domestic and export demand,” said the director of the UN food program in Ukraine Matthew Hollinworth.
The US ambassador to the organization Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at the meeting of the UN Security Council that Kyiv is doing everything it can “to feed the world”, despite the Russian shelling. She also added that currently Ukraine produces 35% less wheat than before the war. And one Russian attack destroys 60,000 tons of grain, which could feed 270,000 people for a year.
“Kyiv is doing everything in its power to feed the world. Russia predictably hates that. It has threatened to attack cargo ships in a Black Sea port, and earlier this month it was reported that Russia had struck a civilian vessel. These actions have put shipping at risk , security and commercial activity. And we should all call on Russia to fulfill its international legal obligations and respect freedom of navigation,” the American diplomat said.
Russia denies attacks on civilian infrastructure.
As reported by Voice of America, the report titled “Transformation of agriculture into a weapon” international legal company Global Rights Compliance provides evidence that Russia planned in advance the systematic theft of Ukrainian grain and the use of the proceeds from its sale to finance the war against Ukraine and the occupation.
The Russian plan, described in the report as “large-scale and organized,” involved the theft of 12,000 tons of grain per day at a total cost of $1 billion per year. Early preparation for the export of grain from Ukraine testifies to preliminary planning “on an unprecedented scale.” This preparation began long before the Russian invasion in February 2022.
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