The launch of the “Grain From Ukraine” program to provide grain to African nations that are having trouble with food security was announced by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
According to Zelensky, the program’s goal is to send essential grain to nations like Yemen, Sudan, and Somalia for “vulnerable people in their hour of need.” Up to 60 cargo ships could be dispatched as part of the program during the first half of 2023.
Leaders of the international summit will allocate funds
The launch of the “Grain From Ukraine” program to provide grain to African nations that are having trouble with food security was announced by Volodymyr Zelensky.
French President Emmanuel Macron said that the program initiated by Zelensky “greatly contributes to ensuring global food security.”
Prime ministers of Poland, Lithuania, and Belgium, as well as the president of Hungary, attended the summit in person. At the same time, the leaders of Germany and France addressed the meeting in pre-recorded videos.
Ukraine is trying to provide the countries in need with grain
“Even as the country struggles with food shortages, devastated farmland, and widespread blackouts, we will never forget our role as a responsible global citizen,” Volodymyr Zelensky said.
The initiative was symbolically started on the day commemorating the Holodomor, the Soviet Union’s artificial famine that killed millions of Ukrainians in 1932–1933. Ukraine has fought for the Holodomor to be recognized as a global genocide against Ukrainians.
Every year on the fourth Saturday in November, Ukraine remembers those who perished in the Holodomor. The commemorations were held on November 26 this year.
Hunger provoked by the Russian war
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, stated in a video address on the Holodomor commemoration day that “hunger must never again be used as a weapon.”
Provoked by Russia’s vicious war against Ukraine, the world is currently witnessing “the worst global food crisis with dire consequences for millions of people – from Afghanistan to Madagascar, from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa,” Scholz said.
Read also: Russia used Grain deal to get sanction exemptions for its bank
Around 150 ships were queued in the Black Sea in October due to Russia’s blockade of the “grain corridor”. The Ukrainian president said that as a result, Ukraine’s grain exports fell short by 3 million tonnes, which would have fed 10 million people.
On November 17, Ukraine and Russia agreed on a secure passageway for grain exports from Ukrainian ports through the Black Sea for an additional 120 days. The UN and Turkey first brokered the agreement.
