Russia caused a queue of 150 ships, deliberately delaying the passage of ships. Today, more than 150 ships are in the artificial queue to fulfill contractual obligations for the supply of Ukrainian agricultural products, Zelenskyy said.
“Every day that ships with food spend in the queue means an increase in social and political tension in the countries that consume our agricultural products. Here are just some of the states to which food exports are delayed due to Russia: Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, Iraq, China, Bangladesh, Indonesia. Our partners – the UN, Türkiye and others are fully informed about this situation,” he said.
During the operation of Ukrainian grain initiative, due to the Russian slowdown, Ukraine under-exported about 3 million tons of food. This is the annual volume of consumption for 10 million people, Zelenskyy added.
“Russia is doing everything to ensure that at least hundreds of thousands of these people become forced migrants who will seek asylum in the same Türkiye or EU countries, or die of hunger. And we, together with our partners, must do everything so that the grain initiative is not only preserved, but also works at 100% capacity.
The right to food and to life without hunger are fundamental rights for absolutely every person on earth. And that is why Russian attempts to exacerbate the food crisis are also aggression against every person on earth,” Zelenskyy said.
