Ukraine envoy highlights food security crisis due to conflict

Over half a billion people globally are under the threat of starvation due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, Ukrainian ambassador to Qatar Andrii Kuzmenko said Monday.
“Ukraine has been producing and supplying enough grains to most parts of the world, which has been affected severely now. The affected half a billion population is mostly from the least developed countries of Africa, some countries of the East and Middle East Asia among others,” the envoy told a press conference.
“When the full scale war started, the export of these grains was totally blocked by Russia. Then under the UN intervention, Black Sea Grain Initiative was set up and accordingly the designated ports were covered by guarantees of the UN to supply grains to the needy countries,” he explained.
Kuzmenko also said that Ukraine was the only country that has exported grains to other countries during a war and under occupation. “Since the beginning of the initiative, we have exported 50mn tonnes of grains. A total of 30 countries and EU has joined this programme and Qatar, which is very active in the initiative has contributed $20mn,” he said.
The envoy also noted that Ukrainian GDP has shrunk by almost one third. “We appreciate the financial assistance provided by our partners and friends to keep the Ukrainian economy going and over $4.5bn has been provided to Ukraine since the beginning of the year,” he said.
The ambassador also highlighted the energy crisis due to the war and how it had created problems for his country as over one third of the power generating facilities were hit during the peak of the war.
As for any peaceful end to the ongoing war, Kuzmenko stressed that Ukraine is open to any negotiations and mediations but it can happen only after the Russian forces retreat from his country and all the occupied places are placed under the government of Ukraine.
“We were ready to negotiate any issue with the Russia well before the start of the war. We are still ready for any negotiation; but only after the full and comprehensive retreat of the Russian forces from Ukraine,” he added.