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Russian Strategy for Winter Campaign: Kill as Many Civilians as Possible
Russia announced yesterday that it pulled out of the grain deal Turkey helped broker with Ukraine. What does this mean for poor countries of Africa? In the most extreme cases, starvation. In many cases, it is a devastating blow to food security for tens, if not hundreds of millions, of people around the world.
As the UN Food and Agriculture Organization notes, Ukraine supplies up to 16% of the world’s corn exports and more than 40% of the world’s sunflower oil. A recent BBC report noted that Egypt and Bangladesh each get about one-quarter of their wheat from Ukraine. Moldova, already suffering from Russian occupation and the war’s fallout, gets over 90% of its wheat from Ukraine (Wheat Supplies Come from Ukraine).
By pulling out of the deal, Russia is effectively saying it won’t let grain shipments proceed safely through the Black Sea waters it controls around Crimea. Prices in Africa in 2022 have already increased 45 percent for basic food stuffs due to severe grain shortages.
Russia’s inhumane strategy is to ensure that as much of the world as possible feels the pain of its genocidal war against the Ukrainian people.
