Putin created a ‘global food crisis,’ says US deputy secretary of state

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman argued on Tuesday that Russia’s war in Ukraine has resulted in a serious food scarcity in Ukraine, with the ramifications of a “global food crisis” felt globally.

Sherman stated at a United Nations forum on the implications of Russia’s war on global food security on Tuesday that Russia has destroyed at least three civilian ships transporting cargo out of the Black Sea.

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She claimed that the Russian Navy is obstructing access to Ukrainian ports, preventing Ukraine from exporting grain and preventing 94 ships carrying food from reaching the Mediterranean Sea.

Sherman said that Russia’s accusations that US and allied sanctions are pushing up food prices throughout the world ignoring the fact that Russia has prohibited Ukraine’s grain exports from reaching the rest of the world.

“So long as Putin continues his war, so long as Russian forces continue to bombard Ukrainian cities and block aid convoys, so long as besieged civilians are unable to get to safety, this humanitarian crisis will only get worse,” Sherman said. “Vladimir Putin started this war. He created this global food crisis. And he is the one who can stop it.” 

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The charges made by a senior State Department official at Tuesday’s UN conference come after the US publicly accused Russian forces of war crimes in Ukraine, including the targeting of civilians.

According to Sherman, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine might force up to 13 million people into food poverty worldwide.

Sherman stated that the Black Sea region accounts for around 30% of global wheat, 20% of global corn, and 75% of global sunflower oil exports, despite the fact that both Ukraine and Russia are important agricultural producers.

According to Sherman, the World Food Program has warned that 45 percent of Ukrainians are anxious about having enough to eat. She notably mentioned the attacks on the southern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, claiming that the population has been left without food, water, heat, and electricity, and that people have “resorted to melting snow for drinking water.”

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“One mother told reporters she could feed her three daughters only a spoonful of honey a day as they hid from Russian bombs. Now, city officials say people are beginning to die of starvation,” Sherman said. “Five weeks ago, Mariupol was at peace. It was, in fact, a bustling port city, a grain exporter that helped feed the world. Today, its residents are dying because of President Putin’s war of choice.”