Martin Griffiths, the UN coordinator for humanitarian affairs, warned of the catastrophic consequences of rising global grain prices and the risk of widening the conflict, which could lead to famine, while Washington confirmed that it was looking for alternative ways to export Ukrainian grain.

Griffiths told the Security Council that food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia are critical to ensuring global food security.

“The destruction of the vital infrastructure of Ukrainian ports is a violation of international human rights,” he explained, adding that overall, food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia are still critical to ensuring global food security.

“Some will go hungry, some will starve, and many may die as a result of these decisions,” Griffiths said, adding that 362 million people in 69 countries are currently in need of humanitarian assistance.

“Therefore, the United Nations will continue its cooperation with all relevant parties to ensure that Ukrainian and Russian food and fertilizers reach world markets, and we must ensure low prices and improve food security in the world… We need united international support,” he added.

UN The Security Council discussed the consequences of Russia’s withdrawal from the grain export agreement, and the parties warned during the session of the risk of conflict resulting from any military incident in the Black Sea.

In a similar context, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken accused Russia of manipulating food to achieve its goals in Ukraine.

At a dialogue session at the “Aspen” Security Forum in Colorado – Blinken pointed out that his country is considering with its allies to export grain from Ukraine.

But he warned that alternative means of exporting Ukrainian grain to world markets “may not be enough.”

Increase in grain prices

For his part, Russia’s deputy representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, renewed the warning to all ships sailing to the Black Sea and Ukrainian ports, as well as to countries whose flags are raised on these ships.

Poliansky also mentioned that the humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea has expired on the 20th of this month.

Russia announced last Monday that it was withdrawing from a deal to export grain across the Black Sea, criticizing that its demands for subsidizing food and fertilizer exports had not been met and that there was not enough Ukrainian grain to reach poor countries.

U.S. wheat futures rose more than 6% in Chicago since the start of the war in February 2022 and hit their biggest daily gain – Wednesday – but some of these gains were pared (yesterday Friday) on hopes that Russia would resume talks on the deal.

The United Nations and Turkey struck a deal last year in an effort to address the global food crisis, with Russia and Ukraine being the biggest grain exporters.

The United Nations said the Black Sea Agreement was a trade process that would benefit poor countries by helping reduce food prices worldwide by more than 23% from March 2022.

The United Nations World Food Program has transported 725 thousand tons of Ukrainian grain to Afghanistan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.

But Mikhail Khan, a senior economist asked by Russia to speak to the Security Council, said poor countries received only 3 percent of their grain through Ukraine, according to UN data.