World leaders slam Russia for 'weaponizing' food following Black Sea grain deal withdrawal

KYIV -- With many countries dependent on grain imports from Ukraine and Russia, Moscow's attacks on Ukraine's port infrastructure and its withdrawal from the Ukrainian grain export agreement have raised alarm across the world.

Russian drones on Wednesday (August 3) struck a grain elevator in the Ukrainian port of Izmail, which sits just across the Danube River from Romania, damaging silos, warehouses and administrative buildings, Kyiv said.

Izmail is now the main export route for Ukrainian agricultural products via Romania, following Russia's withdrawal last month from the Black Sea grain agreement.

The deal had allowed about 33 million tonnes of grain to leave Ukrainian ports, easing fears of global food shortages after the start of the conflict.

But Russia recently refused to extend the deal, brokered in July 2022 by the United Nations (UN) and Türkiye, that had allowed safe passage for grain leaving Ukrainian ports for world markets via the Black Sea.

The deal helped stabilize global food prices and avert shortages amid Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine. But following Moscow's pullout, prices have risen.

World leaders have condemned Moscow's actions.

Russia 'weaponizing' hunger

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday accused Moscow of "blackmail" over its recent withdrawal from the key grain initiative.

Chairing a meeting about food insecurity at the UN's headquarters in New York, told the 15-member UN Security Council that "hunger must not be weaponized".

He singled out Russia, saying its invasion of Ukraine last year had sparked an "assault" on the global food system.

"Every member of this council, every member of the United Nations should tell Moscow enough, enough using the Black Sea as blackmail," said Blinken.

"Enough treating the world's most vulnerable people as leverage. Enough of this unjustified unconscionable war," he added.

Blinken said grain prices had increased by more than 8% around the world since Russia's withdrawal from the so-called Black Sea grain initiative last month.

Washington intends to issue a "joint communique condemning the use of food as a weapon of war" adopted on the sidelines of Thursday's meeting, which has already been signed by 91 countries, Blinken told ABC News.

Blinken also announced $362 million in new funding for programs to combat food insecurity and malnutrition in a dozen African countries and Haiti, a US official said.

The European Union (EU) has called on G20 countries to push Russia to resume the Black Sea grain deal, a letter seen by AFP Thursday said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told G20 top diplomats that Russia's agricultural sector was the "main beneficiary" of Moscow's withdrawal from the UN-brokered agreement.

"Russia will further benefit from higher food prices and increase its own market share in the global grain market by severely limiting its main competitor's capacity to export," he wrote in the letter dated Monday.

He said Russia was now offering vulnerable developing nations discounted grain as it was "pretending to solve a problem it created itself".

"This is a cynical policy of deliberately using food as a weapon to create new dependencies by exacerbating economic vulnerabilities and global food insecurity," Borrell wrote.

'Cruel blow to Africa'

Africa has been hit particularly hard by rising grain prices.

"Russia's withdrawal is an extremely cruel blow to Africa, whose countries are highly dependent on Ukrainian grain," said Mauritanian economic researcher Hussein Mohamed Omar.

Ukraine accounts for a large portion of African imports of wheat.

"Somalia, for example, relies on Ukraine for 70% of its wheat supply, while Tunisia and Libya rely on it for 50% and 40%, respectively," he said.

Omar predicted the blockade on the export of Ukrainian grain to Africa would lead to "food insecurity crises in some of these countries, especially in view of the climate change crisis and export and storage restrictions".

Ahead of the second Russia-Africa summit held in St. Petersburg July 27-28, Russian President Vladimir Putin tried to reassure African countries, saying their grain needs would be met by Russia "on a commercial basis or for free".

He announced that Russia would ship up to 50,000 tons of grain aid to six African nations -- Mali, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Eritrea and the Central African Republic (CAR) -- in the coming months.

But UN Secretary-General António Guterres July 27 pointed out that grain donations to developing nations cannot compensate for the impact of Moscow's cutoff of grain exports from Ukraine, the Associated Press reported.

Taking millions of tons of Ukrainian grain out of the global market will lead to higher prices, which "will be paid by everybody, everywhere", he said.

[Mustafa Omar contributed reporting from Nouakchott, Mauritania.]