The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is accusing Russia of using hunger as a weapon. He claims Russian forces are deliberately targeting the country’s essential food supplies.
In an address to Irish lawmakers Zelenskyy said Russian forces “are destroying things that are sustaining livelihoods.” He said that includes food storage depots.
The Ukrainian President also claims Russian forces are blocking ports so Ukraine can not export food. And at a time when farmers are trying to get in the field to plant, he says Russian forces are also putting mines into farm fields.
“For them hunger is also a weapon, a weapon against us ordinary people,” he said, accusing Russia of “deliberately provoking a food crisis” in Ukraine, a major global producer of staples including wheat and sunflower oil.
Russia is the top producer of sunflower seeds in the world, and a major exporter of sunflower oil.
The Wall Street Journal reports Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sparked a global shortage of sunflower oil that has in turn pushed prices of other edible oils to record highs, hitting food makers and consumers already grappling with inflation.
