Ukraine’s Foreign Minister rejects Putin’s claim that most of Ukrainian grain is exported to Western countries
EUROPEAN PRAVDA – WEDNESDAY, 7 SEPTEMBER 2022, 22:07
Dmytro Kuleba, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that two thirds of Ukrainian grain that has already been exported via the "grain corridor" will be delivered to countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.
Source: European Pravda, quoting Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine
Details: Kuleba said that the resumption of Ukrainian food exports has already had a "positive effect" on the reduction of prices at the [global] food market.
"In August, as soon as the first shipments from Ukrainian ports took place, wheat prices fell by at least 5%. These are real facts, and the Russians' claims about sending Ukrainian grain only to Europe simply do not correspond to reality," Kuleba said.
He stressed that the only reason for the exacerbation of the global food crisis this year "was and remains the brutal war launched by Russia, which blocked Ukrainian seaports, and purposefully destroyed agricultural infrastructure and logistics".
Kuleba further said that Russia may deliberately raise doubts about the effectiveness of the "grain corridor" in order to lay foundations to bargain and blackmail the world as the end of 120 days of the "grain initiative" approaches.
Background: During the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok (Russia) on Wednesday, 7 September, Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation, said that only two out of the 87 ships [that left the Ukrainian ports since the launch of the "grain initiative"] were delivering grain as part of the UN World Food Program, which provides aid to the "countries most in need".
"[Out of] 80 ships only two were destined for the world’s poorest countries. The rest headed for Europe. What’s this about?" Putin said.
He added that he would discuss the possibility of limiting the number of countries that will be allowed to receive shipments of Ukrainian grain with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of Turkey. According to Putin, this is necessary because the majority of ships that leave from Ukrainian ports head for the West rather than the poorest countries suffering from starvation.
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