On Monday morning, Russia announced the end of the Black Sea Grain Initiative that, since 2022, allowed to maintain the flow of food from Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain exporters, to more than 40 countries on three continents.
Speaking to reporters in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said the initiative was a “lifesaver” for food security, enabling the movement of more than 32 million tons of food from Ukrainian ports. It also enabled the World Food Program (WFP) to send more than 725,000 tons to support humanitarian operations, alleviating hunger in some of the most affected places in the world, such as Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
“Hundreds of millions of people are facing hunger and consumers are facing a global cost of living crisis […] We will remain steadfast in finding pathways to solutions. There is simply too much at stake in a hungry and hurting world”, said Guterres.