President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has said it is necessary to expand the existing grain export initiative in the coming weeks.
Speaking at a meeting of the UN Security Council via video link, the president emphasized that the Russian Federation had put the world on the brink of an unprecedented famine. In particular, as a result of the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov the deficit in the already destabilized food market has increased.
“Fortunately, we managed to achieve such conditions under which Russia was forced to accept the terms of the international community, and thanks to this, grain exports from three Ukrainian ports were resumed. This already relieves part of the tension in the food market, but does not remove the threat completely,” he said.
According to him, only the full recovery of Ukrainian agricultural exports without any obstacles can be a guarantee that tens of millions of people around the world will have something to eat.
Zelensky thanked UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as well as all other conscientious subjects of international relations who are fighting against the food crisis, which only Russia is responsible for.
“And in the coming weeks, we must do everything to expand the existing grain export initiative,” he said. (Ukrinform/Business World Magazine)