Global food concerns rise as Russia halts Ukraine grain deal
U.S. President Joe Biden has warned that global hunger could increase because of Russia’s suspension of a U.N.-brokered deal to allow safe passage for ships carrying Ukrainian grain.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the decision predictable and said Russia has been deliberately aggravating the food crisis since September. Currently, some 176 ships loaded with grain are being prevented from sailing from Ukraine’s ports, he said. A ship with 40,000 tons of grains bound for Ethiopia under the United Nations aid program could not leave Ukraine on Sunday as a result of Russia’s suspension of the deal, said Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s minister of infrastructure.
The Kremlin said it was ready for peace talks but stressed that they should be held with Washington, which Russia views as Kyiv’s “mastermind,” Dmitry Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman told Russian state television on Sunday. In the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting is ongoing near the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, eight cities and villages were shelled.